Using Visual Studio 2015 C++ as C/C++ compiler

I am using Matlab v2016b. On my computer, I installed Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 from the official website https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48145 because I would like to use it as C/C++ compiler when I run mex . However, if I run

mex -setup c++

I get the following error:

Error using mex
No supported compiler or SDK was found. You can install the freely available MinGW-w64 C/C++ compiler; see Install MinGW-w64
Compiler. For more options, visit http://www.mathworks.com/support/compilers/R2016b/win64.html.

It is as if Matlab did not see where Visual C is installed. Any tips on how to fix this?

Thank you!

Answer 1

[Jim Hokanson]

The redistributable is not for compiling code. Per Microsoft: "The Visual C++ Redistributable Packages install run-time components that are required to run C++ applications built using Visual Studio 2015." - i.e. this is something a program developer might install on a software user's computer if the developer used Visual Studio to compile their program.

See this page for a list of supported compilers for 2016b: https://www.mathworks.com/support/compilers/R2016b/

I've personally had some success using TDM-GCC to compile C: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/52848-matlab-support-for-the-mingw-w64-c-c++-compiler-from-tdm-gcc

It should also support C++

[Enrico Anderlini]

Thank you very much for the help!