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Installation and versions

Everything downstream — compile times, IntelliSense accuracy, whether Live Coding works at all — depends on getting the toolchain right before you open the editor. A mismatched Visual Studio workload or a missing Windows SDK component doesn't fail loudly at install time; it fails an hour later as an unexplained compile error or a .uproject that refuses to generate project files. This page targets Windows with Visual Studio 2022 and UE 5.7, the combination the rest of this folder assumes.

Mental model: two install paths, one editor​

There are two ways to get Unreal Engine onto your machine, and they diverge more than the marketing suggests:

  • Launcher (binary) install — Epic Games Launcher downloads a prebuilt engine. You get a working editor immediately; the engine itself is not editable, and C++ project compilation still requires Visual Studio because your project's code always compiles locally.
  • Source build — you clone the UnrealEngine repository (Epic GitHub org, requires linking your GitHub account to your Epic account) and build the engine itself from source. Slower to set up, much larger on disk, but the entire engine — including engine-level C++ — is debuggable and patchable.

Both paths land in the same place: a working editor plus a Visual Studio toolchain that compiles your game modules. The difference only matters when you need to step into or modify engine code — see the callouts below.

Windows software requirements​

For UE 5.7 on Windows, Epic's minimum documented requirements are:

  • Windows 10 (Creators Update, version 1703) or later.
  • Visual Studio 2022 — this is a hard requirement for C++ projects; there is no supported path to VS2019 or earlier on current engine versions.
  • The Windows 10/11 SDK matching your Visual Studio installation.
  • DirectX End-User Runtime.
note

Epic's build farm for UE 5.8 compiles against Visual Studio 2022 17.14 with Windows SDK 10.0.22621.0. Treat that as the floor to match, not a UE 5.7-specific pin — verify the exact minimum VS2022 point release against your installed 5.7 release notes.

Visual Studio 2022 workload setup​

The Visual Studio Installer needs the Game development with C++ workload. Under its optional components, make sure these are checked:

  • Desktop development with C++ (pulled in automatically by the game dev workload's core, but worth confirming — MSVC toolset and the Windows SDK live here).
  • .NET desktop development — UnrealBuildTool and UnrealHeaderTool are C# programs; this workload provides the .NET SDK they run on. Recent engine versions build against .NET 8.
  • C++ profiling tools and C++ AddressSanitizer (optional but useful for debugging).
  • The Windows 10/11 SDK entry matching what your engine build expects.

Without Game development with C++ specifically, the installer's Unreal Engine integration step (the checkbox that registers .uproject file association and project templates) does not appear.

Right-click "Generate Visual Studio project files" if VS doesn't open

If double-clicking a .uproject doesn't launch a working IDE session, right-click the file and choose Generate Visual Studio project files (or use Tools > Refresh Visual Studio Project from inside the editor once it's open). This regenerates the .sln and .vcxproj files from your current module layout — necessary any time you add or rename a module, and often necessary once right after installing VS2022 for the first time.

Picking an engine version​

UE 5.7 uses the same file formats and reflection macros as neighboring 5.x releases, but plugin and Marketplace compatibility is pinned to a specific minor version. Two rules keep this simple:

  1. Match your team's engine version exactly — a .uproject opened in a newer engine offers to convert it, and that conversion is one-directional per project copy.
  2. Don't mix a Launcher-installed engine version with a source-built one for the same project unless you're deliberately testing engine changes; the generated project files point at one specific engine install path.

Launcher vs source build: where behavior actually differs​

ConcernLauncher installSource build
Setup timeMinutes (download, install)Long (clone, Setup.bat, GenerateProjectFiles.bat, full engine compile)
Disk spaceSmaller (prebuilt binaries only)Much larger (full source + intermediate build products)
Editing engine C++Not possible — engine code isn't presentFull access, step-through debugging into engine internals
Live Coding on engine codeN/AWorks, same as project code
Marketplace / Fab plugin compatibilityStraightforward, prebuilt binaries matchMay need plugins rebuilt against your exact source build
Typical audienceSolo devs, most studios, learningEngine contributors, platform teams, deep customization

If you don't already know you need to modify engine internals, default to the Launcher install — it's the path this folder's other pages assume unless a page calls out a source-build difference explicitly.

Source builds need a GitHub-linked Epic account

Cloning the private EpicGames/UnrealEngine repository requires linking your GitHub account to your Epic Games account first; an unlinked account gets a 404, not a permissions error, which is a common point of confusion.

See also​