Installing vcpkg is a two-step process: first, clone the repo, then run the bootstrapping script to produce the vcpkg binary. The repo can be cloned anywhere, and will include the vcpkg binary after bootstrapping as well as any libraries that are installed from the command line. It is recommended to clone vcpkg as a submodule for CMake projects, but to install it globally for MSBuild projects. If installing globally, we recommend a short install path like: C:\src\vcpkg or C:\dev\vcpkg, since otherwise you may run into path issues for some port build systems.

Step 1: Clone the vcpkg repo

git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git

Make sure you are in the directory you want the tool installed to before doing this.

Step 2: Run the bootstrap script to build vcpkg

.\vcpkg\bootstrap-vcpkg.bat

vcpkg install [packages to install]

vcpkg integrate install

After this, you can create a new project or open an existing one in the IDE. All installed libraries should already be discoverable by IntelliSense and usable in code without additional configuration.

In order to use vcpkg with CMake outside of an IDE, you can use the toolchain file:

cmake -B [build directory] -S . -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=[path to vcpkg]/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake

Then build with:

cmake --build [build directory]

With CMake, you will need to use find_package() to reference the libraries in your Cmakelists.txt files.