Creators Update is Now Available for Developers, Developers, Developers

Software developers targeting Windows 10 will want to update to Visual Studio 2017 version 15.1 and the Creators Update SDK, both of which are now available.

“We opened access to download the Windows 10 Creators Update and, along with it, the Creators Update SDK,” Microsoft’s Kevin Gallo writes in a post to the firm’s Building Apps blog. “And today is a great day for all Windows developers to get the SDK and start building amazing apps that take advantage of new platform capabilities to deliver experiences that you and your users will love.”

So here’s what’s happening.

As I noted previously in Windows 10 Tip: Get the Creators Update as Quickly as Possible, Microsoft had planned to release the Creators Update to its Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant, allowing developers and others to instantly upgrade to the latest version of Windows 10. That update shipped yesterday as planned. (You can also use the full ISO to upgrade or clean install. Currently, this is available via MSDN, TechNet, and the Windows Insider Program.)

To get the latest version of Visual Studio 2017 (15.1), simply download it from the Visual Studio website. If you already have Visual Studio installed, you have a two-step upgrade process to perform: First, launch Visual Studio Installer on your PC and, as prompted, upgrade that application first. Then, when it reappears, upgrade Visual Studio 2017 as prompted as well.

To get the Creators Update SDK, run Visual Studio Installer and choose “Modify” under whatever version of Visual Studio 2017 you’re using (in my case, Visual Studio Community 2017). Then, under “Individual Components,” scroll down to “SDKs, libraries, and frameworks.” You will see the following new options:

• Windows 10 SDK (10.0.15063.0) for Desktop, C++ x86 and x64
• Windows 10 SDK (10.0.15063.0) for UWP: C#, VB, JS
• Windows 10 SDK (10.0.15063.0) for UWP: C++

Choose the options that are correct for the workloads you target and then click “Modify.” (I assume you’ve already installed the “Universal Windows Platform development” workload previously. If not, this is the first option in the Workloads view.)

You can learn more about this new version of the SDK in the Microsoft blog post Windows 10 Creators Update and Creators Update SDK are Released. The post Visual Studio 2017 Update Preview and Windows 10 Creators Update SDK includes information specific to UWP development.