Cannot configure Python 3.5 to use Visual C++ compiler on Windows

Question

When I was using Python 3.4 I used MinGW to compile modules. Unfortunately in 3.5 MinGW support no longer works. I've installed the correct Visual C++ stuff, but pip still tries to use the MinGW compiler and fails.

How do I tell it to use the correct compiler?

Answer 1

Try following:

• Install Visual Studio Community 2015 with C++ checked
• Make sure environment variable for VS is set
• In PYTHONPATH\Lib\distutils dir create (or edit) file distutils.cfg with following lines:

[build]
compiler=msvc