Download Nmake For Windows — Portable

In the "Installation details" panel on the right, verify that "C++ CMake tools for Windows" is checked (this also pulls in the necessary build tools). Alternatively, manually check "MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools" and "Windows 11 SDK" .

clean: del *.obj *.exe

Go to Microsoft's "Windows SDK and emulator archive". download nmake for windows

# Simple makefile example all: hello.exe hello.exe: hello.obj link hello.obj

No. NMAKE uses a different syntax for macros, inference rules, and directives. A Makefile written for GNU Make will likely fail with NMAKE. In the "Installation details" panel on the right,

NMAKE is Microsoft's classic build utility, used to automate the compilation of programs based on descriptions in a makefile . While modern developers often use MSBuild or CMake, NMAKE remains essential for maintaining legacy C/C++ projects, building older drivers, or following specific SDK examples.

Download the SDK version required (e.g., Windows 10 SDK or Windows 8.1 SDK). # Simple makefile example all: hello

Visual Studio includes ARM64 versions of NMAKE. Install the ARM64 build tools workload. Conclusion To download NMAKE for Windows, you must install either Visual Studio Build Tools (lightweight) or Visual Studio Community (full IDE). After installation, always run NMAKE from the Developer Command Prompt to ensure a proper build environment.