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Microsoft Windows SDK, and its predecessors Platform SDK, and .NET Framework SDK, are software development kits (SDKs) from Microsoft that contain documentation, header files, libraries, samples and tools required to develop applications for Microsoft Windows and .NET Framework. Platform SDK specializes in developing applications for Windows 2000, XP and Windows Server 2003. .NET Framework SDK is dedicated to developing applications for .NET Framework 1.1 and .NET Framework 2.0. Windows SDK is the successor of the two and supports developing applications for Windows XP and later, as well as .NET Framework 3.0 and later.

Features

Platform SDK is the successor of the original Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 3.1x and Microsoft Win32 SDK for Windows 9x. It was released in 1999 and is the oldest SDK. Platform SDK contains compilers, tools, documentations, header files, libraries and samples needed for software development on IA-32, x64 and IA-64 CPU architectures. .NET Framework SDK however, came to being with .NET Framework. Starting with Windows Vista, the Platform SDK, .NET Framework SDK, Tablet PC SDK and Windows Media SDK are replaced by a new unified kit called Windows SDK. However, the .NET Framework 1.1 SDK is not included since the .NET Framework 1.1 does not ship with Windows Vista. (Windows Media Center SDK for Windows Vista ships separately.) DirectX SDK was merged into Windows SDK with the release of Windows 8.

Windows SDK allows the user to specify the components to be installed and where to install them. It integrates with Visual Studio, so that multiple copies of the components that both have are not installed; however, there are compatibility caveats if either of the two is not from the same era. Information shown can be filtered by content, such as showing only new Windows Vista content, only .NET Framework content, or showing content for a specific language or technology.

Windows SDKs are available for free; they were once available on Microsoft Download Center but were moved to MSDN in 2012.

A developer might want to use an older SDK for a particular reason. For example, the Windows Server 2003 Platform SDK released in February 2003 was the last SDK to provide full support of Visual Studio 6.0. Some older PSDK versions can still be downloaded from the Microsoft Download center; others can be ordered on CD/DVD.

Documentation

The Windows SDK documentation includes manuals documenting:

• Desktop app development with Windows API and managed code
• Metro-style app development using Windows Runtime and Universal Windows Platform
• Web app development using ASP.NET, HTML, CSS and JavaScript
• Language-related topics for C++, C#, Visual Basic.NET, F#, JavaScript, CSS and HTML, such as syntax and conventions (Windows PowerShell language is not covered.)

See also

• MSDN Library
• Windows Driver Kit
• Windows App SDK
• Windows 10 Version History

References

1. "Windows SDK: Download Windows Server 2008 SDK and more". Microsoft Developer Network. Microsoft Corporation. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
2. "Windows SDK Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)". Microsoft Developer Network. Microsoft Corporation. Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
3. "Where is the DirectX SDK?". Windows Dev Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
4. "Windows SDK Fails to Install with Return Code 5100". Support. Microsoft. 5 June 2012.
5. Stewart, Heath (1 April 2011). "Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Compiler Update for the Windows SDK 7.1". Setup & Install by Heath Stewart. Microsoft.
6. Microsoft Software Development Kits CD Order Archived 2011-10-08 at the Wayback Machine
7. Windows and Windows Phone SDK archive
8. Windows® Server 2003 SP1 Platform SDK Web Install, Microsoft Download Center "The last SDK that will work with VC 6.0 is the February 2003 Edition, you can order a CD on the fulfillment site."
9. "Windows Server 2003 R2 Platform SDK Web Install". www.microsoft.com. Archived from the original on 2006-04-22. Retrieved 2006-04-22.
10. "Platform SDK February 2003 installation + IE8". Social.msdn.microsoft.com. Archived from the original on 2019-10-18. Retrieved 2017-08-08.
11. Microsoft Windows SDK Blog: New samples in Win 7 SDK: Direct2D and DirectWrite
12. "Windows SDK 7.1 release notes". Retrieved 23 July 2014.
13. Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 iso image
14. Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 web installer
15. Windows SDK for Windows 8 – Windows Dev Center. Msdn.microsoft.com. Retrieved on 2014-02-16.
16. Building Apps for Windows 10 with Visual Studio 2015
17. Windows 10 SDK Release Notes
18. Visual Studio 2015 Update 1 Release Notes
19. Release Notes, Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
20. Release Notes, Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4
21. "Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 8". Windows Dev Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
22. "Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 8". Windows Dev Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
23. "Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 10". Windows Dev Center. Microsoft. Retrieved 20 February 2016.

External links

• Archived Microsoft TechNet Wiki
• Windows SDK Archive

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