Installing Tools (Windows)
Windows only

by Dale Fugier (Last updated: Tuesday, September 29, 2026)

By the end of this guide, you should have all the tools installed necessary for authoring, building, and debugging C/C++ plugins using the Rhino C/C++ SDK on Windows.

Prerequisites

This guide presumes you have:

Rhino 9

Rhino 8

Rhino 7

Install Visual Studio

Rhino 9

To write C++ plugins for Rhino 9 using the Rhino 9 C/C++ SDK, you will need Microsoft Visual Studio 2026 or a version of Visual Studio that includes the Visual Studio 2026 (v145) platform toolset.

  1. Download Microsoft Visual Studio 2026.
  2. Run the Visual Studio installer you just downloaded.
  3. Follow the onscreen prompts to install Visual Studio.
  4. Check the Desktop development with C++ workload.
  5. Click the Individual components tab.
  6. Scroll to the SDKs, libraries, and frameworks section and check the following options:
    1. C++ ATL for latest v145 build tools (x86 & x64)
    2. C++ MFC for latest v145 build tools (x86 & x64)
    3. Windows 11 SDK
  7. Check any additional features required for your project.
  8. When finished, click Install.
  9. Depending on your internet connection, this can take several minutes to complete.

If you already have Microsoft Visual Studio 2026 installed, then you will want to re-run the Visual Studio Installer and verify you have all the the components installed.

Note
Because of C++ binary compatibility between Visual Studio versions, you might be able to use an earlier version of Visual Studio.

Rhino 8

To write C++ plugins for Rhino 8 using the Rhino 8 C/C++ SDK, you will need a version of Microsoft Visual Studio that includes the Visual Studio 2019 (v142) platform toolset. Thus, you can use either Visual Studio 2022 or Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Download Microsoft Visual Studio, either Visual Studio 2022 or Visual Studio 2019.
  2. Run the Visual Studio installer you just downloaded.
  3. Follow the onscreen prompts to install Visual Studio.
  4. Check the Desktop development with C++ workload.
  5. Click the Individual components tab.
  6. Scroll to the Compilers, build tools, and runtimes section and check the following option:
    1. MSVC v142 - VS 2019 C++ x64/x86 build tools
  7. Scroll to the SDKs, libraries, and frameworks section and check the following options:
    1. C++ v14.2 ATL for v142 build tools (x86 & x64)
    2. C++ v14.2 MFC for v142 build tools (x86 & x64)
    3. Windows 10 SDK
  8. Check any additional features required for your project.
  9. When finished, click Install.
  10. Depending on your internet connection, this can take several minutes to complete.

If you already have Microsoft Visual Studio 2022 or 2019 installed, then you will want to re-run the Visual Studio Installer and verify you have all the the components installed.

Rhino 7

To write C++ plugins for Rhino 7 using the Rhino 7 C/C++ SDK, you will need Microsoft Visual Studio 2019.

  1. Download Visual Studio 2019.
  2. Run the Visual Studio installer you just downloaded.
  3. Follow the onscreen prompts to install Visual Studio.
  4. Check the Desktop development with C++ workload.
  5. Click the Individual components tab.
  6. Scroll to the SDKs, libraries, and frameworks section and check the following option:
    1. Visual Studio SDK
  7. Check any additional features required for your project.
  8. When finished, click Install.
  9. Depending on your internet connection, this can take several minutes to complete.

If you already have Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 installed, then you will want to re-run the Visual Studio Installer and verify you have all the the components installed.

Install the Rhino C/C++ SDK

The Rhino C/C++ SDK is a set of tools for creating plugin using the C++ language. The SDK includes headers, libraries and Visual Studio project wizards to get you started creating plugins quickly.

Rhino 9

  1. Exit Visual Studio.
  2. Download the Rhino 9 C/C++ SDK.
  3. Run the SDK installer you downloaded.
  4. Download the Rhino Visual Studio Extension (VSIX).
  5. Run the VSIX installer you downloaded.
  6. If the installation is successful, run Visual Studio.

Rhino 8

  1. Exit Visual Studio.
  2. Download the Rhino 8 C/C++ SDK.
  3. Run the SDK installer you downloaded.
  4. Download the Rhino Visual Studio Extension (VSIX).
  5. Run the VSIX installer you downloaded.
  6. If the installation is successful, run Visual Studio.

Rhino 7

  1. Exit Visual Studio.
  2. Download the Rhino 7 C/C++ SDK.
  3. Run the SDK installer you downloaded.
  4. If the installation is successful, run Visual Studio.

Next Steps

Congratulations! You have the tools to build a C/C++ plugin for Rhino for Windows. Now what?

Check out the Creating your first C/C++ plugin guide for instructions building your first plugin.