DirectX

Follow the steps under DirectX For Developers.
Especially install also the Windows SDK. This installs the additional platforms mentioned in this blog under item 2.

As of 25th May 2010: Latest DirectX SDK

Library Errors#

You can set the directories either in
a) Project-Properties
b) Property-Manager

If you have a missing lib, check
a) Verweisverzeichnisse and
b) Bibliotheksverzeichnisse

If an environbment variable is wrong, check

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\Tools\vsvars32.bat
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\Tools\VCVarsQueryRegistry.bat
Here you can see that some settings come from the registry, for example
$(WindowsSdkDir) => HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MicrosoftSDKs\Windows\v7.1\