NetSim requires only a few components of Visual Studio Community 2017/2019 edition to be installed. Upon starting the installer:

1. Under the Workloads tab users can select Desktop Development with C++ as shown below:

2. Under the Individual components tab select VC++2015.3 V140 toolset for desktop (x86,x64)

3. Proceed with the installation and restart the system if prompted to.

4. Start Visual Studio application. The following splash screen will appear:

It is highly recommended that you Sign in using a Microsoft account to prevent the installation from expiring in 30 days. If this step is skipped users can also Sign in later from the tool.

5. Choose your preferred layout from the options displayed as shown below and click on Start visual Studio button.

6. Upon opening NetSim source codes, the Retarget Projects window will pop up as shown below. Users should select 8.1 from Windows SDK Version list and click on the OK button. This is done since NetSim source codes were built in Visual Studio 2015 but we are attempting to open it in Visual Studio 2017. Please note that this need not be done each time the source codes are opened. Visual studio will not prompt to Retarget Projects when opened the second time.