React Native Windows with Visual Studio 2026 Insiders

[Tatsukiyoshi]

There is a sample app using the latest version 0.80.0-preview.6 in an environment where Visual Studio 2022 is installed.
I installed Visual Studio 2026 Insiders in this environment and tried running the app I mentioned earlier.
When I ran it, it seemed like some tool was missing, and the following error occurred:

 i Running x64 node on a x64 machine
 i Verbose: ON
Looking for VS installs with version range: [17.11.0,18.0)
Looking for vswhere at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe
 ‼ No public VS release found
 i Trying pre-release VS
Looking for VS installs with version range: [17.11.0,18.0]
Looking for vswhere at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer\vswhere.exe
 × Could not find MSBuild with VCTools for Visual Studio 17.11.0 or later. Make sure all required components have been installed
Command failed with error NoMSBuild: Could not find MSBuild with VCTools for Visual Studio 17.11.0 or later. Make sure all required components have been installed
Your telemetry sessionId was 9ca121f86dac01687a97eca2f23a6663
error: script "windows" exited with code 252

I'd like to know if there's a way to check what the problem is.

The environment is as follows:

info Fetching system and libraries information...
System:
  OS: Windows 11 10.0.26220
  CPU: (8) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) Ultra 5 226V
  Memory: 2.24 GB / 15.52 GB
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 24.1.0
    path: C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.22
    path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\bin\yarn.CMD
  npm:
    version: 11.3.0
    path: C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD
  Watchman: Not Found
SDKs:
  Android SDK:
    API Levels:
      - "34"
      - "35"
      - "36"
    Build Tools:
      - 34.0.0
      - 35.0.1
      - 36.0.0
      - 36.1.0
    System Images:
      - android-35 | Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom
      - android-36.0-Baklava | Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom
      - android-36.0-CANARY | Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom
      - android-36 | Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom
      - android-36 | Pre-Release 16 KB Page Size Google Play Intel x86_64 Atom
    Android NDK: Not Found
  Windows SDK:
    AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense: Enabled
    AllowAllTrustedApps: Enabled
    Versions:
      - 10.0.19041.0
      - 10.0.22621.0
      - 10.0.26100.0
IDEs:
  Android Studio: Not Found
  Visual Studio:
    - 18.0.11005.162 (Visual Studio Community 2026)
Languages:
  Java: 17.0.13
  Ruby:
    version: 3.4.4
    path: C:\Ruby34-x64\bin\ruby.EXE
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli": Not Found
  react:
    installed: 19.1.0
    wanted: 19.1.0
  react-native:
    installed: 0.80.2
    wanted: ^0.80.0
  react-native-windows:
    installed: 0.80.0-preview.6
    wanted: 0.80.0-preview.6
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: false
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found

info React Native v0.81.4 is now available (your project is running on v0.80.2).
info Changelog: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/releases/tag/v0.81.4
info Diff: https://react-native-community.github.io/upgrade-helper/?from=0.80.2&to=0.81.4
info For more info, check out "https://reactnative.dev/docs/upgrading?os=windows".

[hardusss]

Hi! 👋

The error you’re seeing happens because the React Native CLI expects Visual Studio 17.11.x (or VS 2022) with MSBuild and VCTools installed. Right now, you have Visual Studio 2026 (Insiders), which isn’t recognized by the CLI yet.

Here’s how to fix it:

1.Install Visual Studio 2022 (17.11.x) Community/Professional/Enterprise:

Make sure to include these workloads:
Desktop development with C++
MSBuild
VC++ toolset

2.Keep VS 2026 Insiders if you want, but React Native CLI will only detect VS 2022 for building Windows apps.

3.After installing VS 2022, you can verify it with:
vswhere -latest -products * -requires Microsoft.Component.MSBuild -property installationPath
It should return the path to your VS 2022 installation.

4.Then run:
npx react-native run-windows
It should pick up MSBuild and compile your app correctly.

💡 Tip: If you want to stay on VS 2026, you’ll need to wait until React Native Windows adds support for it, because the CLI currently searches for VS versions 17.11.x – 18.0 only.