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You can build WinFsp-MemFs-Extended from source to compile the latest version or make custom modifications to the project.

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Prerequisites

Before building the project, ensure you have the following installed:

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Visual Studio 2022 or later

The project uses Visual Studio 2022 (v143 platform toolset) with C++20 language standard. You need:
  • Visual Studio 2022 or later
  • Desktop development with C++ workload
  • Windows 10 SDK
  • .NET 6.0 SDK (for ConcurrencyStressTester)

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WinFsp SDK

WinFsp must be installed on your system. The build configuration expects WinFsp to be installed at: 
C:\Program Files (x86)\WinFsp
This location contains:
  • inc/ - WinFsp header files
  • lib/ - WinFsp library files (winfsp-x86.lib, winfsp-x64.lib)
Download WinFsp from the official WinFsp website.

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Build configuration

The solution file WinFsp-MemFs-Extended.sln contains four projects:
  1. WinFsp-MemFs-Extended - Main RAM disk application (C++)
  2. RandomFilesTester - File creation testing utility (C++)
  3. ConcurrencyStressTester - Multithreaded stress testing tool (C#)
  4. Winfsp-Fsbench - File system benchmarking utility (C++)

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Supported platforms

You can build for both x86 and x64 architectures:
  • Win32 (x86) - 32-bit builds
  • x64 - 64-bit builds

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Build configurations

  • Debug - Development builds with debug information
  • Release - Optimized builds for production use

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Building the project

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Using Visual Studio

  1. Open WinFsp-MemFs-Extended.sln in Visual Studio
  2. Select your desired configuration (Debug or Release)
  3. Select your target platform (x64 or Win32)
  4. Build the solution:
    • Press Ctrl+Shift+B, or
    • Select Build > Build Solution from the menu

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Using MSBuild command line

You can also build from the command line using MSBuild: 
# Build Release x64
msbuild WinFsp-MemFs-Extended.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=x64

# Build Debug x64
msbuild WinFsp-MemFs-Extended.sln /p:Configuration=Debug /p:Platform=x64

# Build Release x86
msbuild WinFsp-MemFs-Extended.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=Win32

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Output files

After a successful build, you’ll find the executables in the following locations:

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Main application

  • Debug builds: x64/Debug/WinFsp-MemFs-Extended.exe or Debug/WinFsp-MemFs-Extended.exe
  • Release x64: x64/Release/memefs-x64.exe
  • Release x86: Release/memefs-x86.exe
The release builds use custom target names (memefs-x64 and memefs-x86) for easier identification.

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Test utilities

  • RandomFilesTester: x64/[Configuration]/RandomFilesTester.exe
  • ConcurrencyStressTester: ConcurrencyStressTester/bin/[Configuration]/net6.0/ConcurrencyStressTester.exe
  • Winfsp-Fsbench: x64/[Configuration]/Winfsp-Fsbench.exe

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Troubleshooting

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WinFsp headers not found

If you get errors about missing WinFsp headers:
  1. Verify WinFsp is installed at C:\Program Files (x86)\WinFsp
  2. Check that the WinFsp SDK was installed (not just the runtime)
  3. Update the include paths in the project properties if WinFsp is in a different location

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Platform toolset errors

If you see errors about platform toolset v143:
  1. Install Visual Studio 2022 or update your existing installation
  2. Or modify the .vcxproj files to use your installed toolset (e.g., v142 for VS 2019)

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.NET SDK errors

If ConcurrencyStressTester fails to build:
  1. Install .NET 6.0 SDK or later
  2. Or exclude the ConcurrencyStressTester project from the build

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