On Windows XP/Vista/7, node-gyp requires Python 2.7 and Visual Studio 2010
According to the readme file in Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Service Pack 1 Compiler Update for the Windows SDK 7.1, to ensure that your system has a supported configuration, uninstall the following products and then reinstall them in the order listed:
- Visual C++ 2010 Express or Visual Studio 2010
- Windows SDK 7.1 Note: If you get error on installation, maybe this link will help you.
- Visual Studio 2010 SP1
- Visual C++ 2010 SP1 Compiler Update for the Windows SDK 7.1
On x64 environments, the last update in the list fixes errors about missing compilers and error MSB4019: The imported project "C:\Microsoft.Cpp.Default.props" was not found.
Easy Solution: try compiling using the Windows SDK 7.1 Command Prompt start menu shortcut.
Proper Solution: To properly fix the situation, you'll need to globally set some environment variables.
To get their proper values, launch the Windows SDK 7.1 Command Prompt, then within the prompt get the value of the following variables: PATH (it adds some things to PATH, you can put these anywhere in the PATH list), LIBPATH, LIB, PlatformToolset, WindowsSDKDir, sdkdir, TARGET_PLATFORM, and VS120COMNTOOLS.
Take their values, and put them in either your User or System variables. You can easily get to this menu by doing Win+Pause/Break, Advanced System Settings, and then Environment Variables.