Compiling OpenSSL with Visual Studio (2024)

The following sections describes how to compile OpenSSL 1.1.x for Visual Studio 2008 and higher without patented algorithms.

CMake version >= 3.7
NASM (https://www.nasm.us/)
Perl (https://www.activestate.com/products/activeperl/)

Download the latest version of OpenSSL from here http://www.openssl.org/source/
Extract the OpenSSL tar to <SDK Installation Directory>\third-party\build_ssl.
That will create a new folder <SDK Installation Directory>\third-party\build_ssl\openssl-<version_number>.

Navigate to <SDK Installation Directory>\third-party\build_ssl and create a new file env_no_VS.bat with the following content:

@echo off

set OPENSSL_VERSION=1.1.1b

PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\REM PATH for Perl

where /q "C:\Perl\bin:perl.exe"

if errorlevel 1 (

where /q "C:\Perl64\bin:perl.exe"

if errorlevel 1 (

echo perl cannot be found. please ensure it is installed and placed in your path.

pause

exit /b

) else (

PATH=C:\Perl64\bin;C:\Perl64\site\bin;%PATH%

)

) else (

PATH=C:\Perl\bin;C:\Perl\site\bin;%PATH%

)

REM PATH for NASM

where /q "C:\Program Files (x86)\NASM:nasm.exe"

if errorlevel 1 (

where /q "C:\Program Files\NASM:nasm.exe"

if errorlevel 1 (

echo nasm cannot be found. please ensure it is installed and placed in your path.

pause

exit /b

) else (

PATH=C:\Program Files\NASM;%PATH%

)

) else (

PATH=C:\Program Files ^(x86^)\NASM;%PATH%

)

REM check for available drive letter

Setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

set DRIVE_LETTERS=L: M: N: O: P: Q: R: S: T: U: V: W: X: Y: Z:

for /F "skip=1" %%D in ('wmic LogicalDisk GET DeviceID') do (

for /F %%C in ("%%D") do (

set DRIVE_LETTERS=!DRIVE_LETTERS:%%D= !

)

set DRIVE_LETTERS=%DRIVE_LETTERS::=,%

for %%G in (%DRIVE_LETTERS%) do (

echo using drive letter %%G

set DRIVE_LETTER=%%G

goto freedrivefound

)

echo could not find a free drive letter.

pause

exit /b

:freedrivefound

(

endlocal

set "DRIVE_LETTER=%DRIVE_LETTER%"

)

SET INCLUDE=

SET LIB=

cd openssl-%BUILD_FOLDER%

perl Configure no-idea no-mdc2 no-rc5 no-ssl2 no-ssl3 %CONFIG_ARCH% --prefix=%DRIVE_LETTER%:\openssl-%OPENSSL_VERSION%-%BUILD_FOLDER%-DLL

REM replace version

powershell -Command "(gc makefile) -replace 'libcrypto-1_1%REPLACE_ARCH%', 'libcrypto%DEBUG_POSTFIX%' | Out-File makefile"

powershell -Command "(gc makefile) -replace 'libcrypto.lib', 'libcrypto%DEBUG_POSTFIX%.lib' | Out-File makefile"

powershell -Command "(gc makefile) -replace 'libssl-1_1%REPLACE_ARCH%', 'libssl%DEBUG_POSTFIX%' | Out-File makefile"

powershell -Command "(gc makefile) -replace 'libssl.lib', 'libssl%DEBUG_POSTFIX%.lib' | Out-File makefile"

powershell -Command "(gc configdata.pm) -replace 'libcrypto-1_1%REPLACE_ARCH%', 'libcrypto%DEBUG_POSTFIX%' | Out-File configdata.pm"

powershell -Command "(gc configdata.pm) -replace 'libssl-1_1%REPLACE_ARCH%', 'libssl%DEBUG_POSTFIX%' | Out-File configdata.pm"

nmake build_libs

REM for some reason the makefile sometimes gets corrupted after the build - so this is just a workaround

perl Configure no-idea no-mdc2 no-rc5 no-ssl2 no-ssl3 %CONFIG_ARCH% --prefix=%DRIVE_LETTER%:\openssl-%OPENSSL_VERSION%-%BUILD_FOLDER%-DLL

powershell -Command "(gc makefile) -replace 'libcrypto-1_1%REPLACE_ARCH%', 'libcrypto%DEBUG_POSTFIX%' | Out-File makefile"

powershell -Command "(gc makefile) -replace 'libcrypto.lib', 'libcrypto%DEBUG_POSTFIX%.lib' | Out-File makefile"

powershell -Command "(gc makefile) -replace 'libssl-1_1%REPLACE_ARCH%', 'libssl%DEBUG_POSTFIX%' | Out-File makefile"

powershell -Command "(gc makefile) -replace 'libssl.lib', 'libssl%DEBUG_POSTFIX%.lib' | Out-File makefile"

powershell -Command "(gc configdata.pm) -replace 'libcrypto-1_1%REPLACE_ARCH%', 'libcrypto%DEBUG_POSTFIX%' | Out-File configdata.pm"

powershell -Command "(gc configdata.pm) -replace 'libssl-1_1%REPLACE_ARCH%', 'libssl%DEBUG_POSTFIX%' | Out-File configdata.pm"

nmake install_dev

REM delete build directory

cd ..

RMDIR /S /Q openssl-%BUILD_FOLDER%

REM undo subst

CALL subst %DRIVE_LETTER%: /d

To build 64bit debug libraries create the file build_win64_vs2015_debug.cmd:

@echo off

setlocal

call ..\env_no_VS.bat

REM setup environment

set VS_ENV_BAT="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\bin\amd64\vcvars64.bat"

set BUILD_FOLDER=win64-vs2015-debug

set CONFIG_ARCH=debug-VC-WIN64A

set REPLACE_ARCH=-x64

set DEBUG_POSTFIX=d

CALL subst %DRIVE_LETTER%: %CD%

CALL %VS_ENV_BAT%

REM create a copy of the source dir

xcopy ..\openssl-%OPENSSL_VERSION% openssl-%BUILD_FOLDER%\ /s /e

%DRIVE_LETTER%: