When you get this error … something got really broken. I do not know the reason how I got this error – but actually an installation of some development tools are the reason for this ….
Microsoft looks for the location of its tools by looking at the env variable “VS100COMNTOOLS”. In my case this env variable is set, BUT starting a VS2010 command shell fails to set this variable – because the Microsoft script unset the variable first and then query the registry for the installation path and set it again.
To query the registry it uses the command “reg” and “reg” is located in c:\windows\system32. But this directory is NOT defined in the PATH variable content any more and therefore reg is not found.
The not finding of “reg” creates an error and VS100COMNTOOLS remains unset and the whole stuff is not working any more.
Therefore the missing of “c:\windows\system32” in PATH is the reason for all these errors – but I still do not know, which tool installation broke that stuff.
Schrievkrom 
Hi,
I was getting same problem.
But after reaching to your post. I have resolved the issue.
Thank you very much. 🙂
I had the same error – the only item I had in my path was to quick time!
THANK YOU! I HAD EXACTLY THE SAME PROBLEM AND YOUR POST SAVED ME! THANK YOU A MILLION TIMES!
Does anyone know why this happens?
setting path variable to c:\system\windows\system32 solves the issue …..
thanks yaar
Thanks – You just saved a few hair on my head.
Thank you so much, this just resolved a whole bunch of problems I was having
Can someone share where this path should be updated? I tried adding it to vcvarsall.bat, on line 170, like so:
@set PATH=C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\BIN;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\Tools;C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5;C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\VCPackages;C:\windows\system32;%PATH
But to no avail. Same issue continues.
Thanks in advance for any ideas/direction.
I got the same error today. The cause is that I uninstalled the preview VS2011, apparently the uninstaller messed things.
I fixed it by adding values manually under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SxS in registry on a Win64:
FrameworkDir32 = D:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\
FrameworkDir64 = D:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64
FrameworkVer32 = v4.0.30319
FrameworkVer64 = v4.0.30319
I got this also, when trying to use the compiler suite that comes with the 7.1 SDK. And I don’t have the path issue 😦
Man, i just wish Microsoft could get their crap togeather!
hi,
i was getting the same problem. But after reading your post, my problem is resolved…
Thank you very much 😉
Fixed it for me too, thank you!
I got this error after installing (install other stuff) Windows Live Movie Maker (Windows Live Tools). May be windows installer got without buffer space to copy previous PATH string and so lost the last folder that was set. If this is true, the install any other windows software that change the PATH var, may broke it again.
Thanks a lot
This is a great post! Thank you!
This worked for me ! Thank you so much!
hi , i am in the process of building a wireshark dissector.i am not able to use “nmake” which shows the error (as d name of your article).i’ve put c:/windows/system32 against path env var.should i add VS100COMNTOOLS as an env var and assign the address?plzz help…
Your tip was great.
In prompt: path=path;c:\windows\system32 and then “voilà”.
Thanks
thanks a ton …!!!
Had the same problem. Thanks a lot.
I’ve just installed python(x,y) and found that it was responsible for altering the PATH variable that caused this problem on my Win 7 64-bit machine.
Thanks a lot…that was a simple fix!!!
Saved my butt. Thanks.
You saved my day. Happy New Year !
Finally this really worked.
My cl compiler was running fine until I set up the environment for adt bundle SDK eclipse. Then, I spent so much time searching for solution but none fully helped.
Thank You Very Much
thanks dude .. I had also facing same problem ..
it works for me,thanks alot!
Solved! thanks !
many thanks, things are good now.
Also solved my problem. Couldn’t get qt creator to compile. The error running vcvarsall.bat x86_amd64 that qt runs did not show in qt creator (somehow suppressed).
Help, I still couldnt get my vsvar32.bat to work. Ive already added that value into my path env var but it still can’t find the folder!
With VS 2013 community update 5 this can be an issue where for some insane reason it installs the VS 2012 command prompt entries instead. These obviously won’t work since VS 2012 isn’t installed. See the 2nd-last post on:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/78703f6b-f610-456c-b770-76a12be3e1ae/error-cannot-determine-the-location-of-the-vs-common-tools-folder?forum=vssetup
You have to edit the shortcuts. Rename them from VS 2012 to VS 2013, and change the vcvars paths from ’11’ to ’12’.
thank you so much
iam gettinng same error i did same like above i add “c:\windows\system32” but again iam getting
same error this is my path=C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\130\Tools\Binn\;C:\Windows\System32;
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