Qt for Windows - Building from Source

This page describes the process of configuring and building Qt for Windows. To download and install a pre-built Qt for Windows, follow the instructions on the Getting Started with Qt page.

Step 1: Getting the Sources

Qt sources can be installed in the Qt Online Installer. Source packages are also available as Git repositories, as archives in the Qt Account (commercial users), and on download.qt.io (open-source users).

If you install the sources through the Qt Online Installer, they will be available in the Qt installation directory, for instance C:\Qt\6.5.1\Src.

If you downloaded the source archive, extract it to a directory of your choice, for instance C:\dev\Qt\src.

Step 2: Install Build Requirements

To build Qt from sources you need a build environment with a supported compiler and various build tools available:

Build Tools

The executables cmake.exe, ninja.exe, and python.exe must be available in your build environment. You achieve this by adding the respective directory to your PATH environment variable.

Compilers

The following compilers and configurations are supported in Qt 6.5:

QDoc Dependencies

QDoc uses Clang to parse C++ code. If you wish to build QDoc manually, refer to Installing Clang for QDoc for specific build requirements.

Step 3: Set the Environment Variables

We recommend creating a desktop link that opens a command prompt with the environment set up similar to the Command Prompt menu entries provided by Visual Studio. This is done by creating an application link passing a .cmd file setting up the environment and the command line option /k (remain open) to cmd.exe.

Assuming the file is called qt6vars.cmd and the Qt folder is called C:\Qt\6.5.1\Src:

REM Set up Microsoft Visual Studio 2019, where <arch> is amd64, x86, etc.
CALL "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Professional\VC\Auxiliary\Build\vcvarsall.bat" <arch>
SET _ROOT=C:\Qt\6.5.1\Src
SET PATH=%_ROOT%;%PATH%
SET _ROOT=

A desktop link can then be created by specifying the command %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe /E:ON /V:ON /k C:\Qt\qt6vars.cmd as application.

Depending on your individual setup, you might also need to make the installation directories of CMake, Ninja, and Python part of the SET %PATH% line above.

Step 4: Build the Qt Library

To configure the Qt library for your machine type, run the configure.bat script in the source directory. Alternatively, if you have already completed Step 3, you may double-click on the desktop link you created, and type configure and start configuring the Qt library in your selected directory.

By default, Qt is configured for installation in the C:\Program Files\Qt directory, but this can be changed by using the -prefix option.

The Configure Options page contains more information about the configure options. See Qt for Windows - Graphics Acceleration for specific options regarding graphics acceleration.