[Python] Can't install Python fasttext on Windows 11 – string_view not found despite Visual...

I'm hitting a wall trying to install the Python package fasttext on Windows 11, and I'm getting C++ build errors despite setting everything up correctly (or so I thought). Here's the full context of what I’ve done.

Environment:

• OS: Windows 11 64-bit
• Python: 3.11 (installed via python.org)
• Visual Studio: 2022 Community Edition – v17.13.6
• pip: 22.3.1

I'm installing using the "x64 Native Tools Command Prompt for VS 2022", so that cl.exe is properly available

Visual Studio has all required components installed, including:

• MSVC v143 – VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 Build Tools (latest)
• C++ Clang compiler for Windows
• Spectre-mitigated libs for MSVC 2017/2019/2022
• SDKs and build tools
• Python development + Desktop development with C++

Here's the relevant part of the error:

error C2039: 'string_view' is not a member of 'std'
warning STL4038: The contents of <string_view> are available only with C++17 or later


Despite explicitly setting /std:c++17, it still fails and behaves like it’s compiling in an older standard.

Bonus: how to list all installed Visual Studio components?

If there's a CLI way to list all workloads/tools/components installed by Visual Studio, I’d love to include that here to help debugging.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\Installer>vswhere.exe -all -products * -format json
[
{
"instanceId": "cb9d49b8",
"installDate": "2025-04-16T12:11:09Z",
"installationName": "VisualStudio/17.13.6+35931.197",
"installationPath": "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community",
"installationVersion": "17.13.35931.197",
"productId": "Microsoft.VisualStudio.Product.Community",
"productPath": "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community\\Common7\\IDE\\devenv.exe",
"state": 4294967295,
"isComplete": true,
"isLaunchable": true,
"isPrerelease": false,
"isRebootRequired": false,
"displayName": "Visual Studio Community 2022",
"description": "IDE puissant, gratuit pour les étudiants, les contributeurs open source et les particuliers",
"channelId": "VisualStudio.17.Release",
"channelUri": "https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/channel",
"enginePath": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\Installer\\resources\\app\\ServiceHub\\Services\\Microsoft.VisualStudio.Setup.Service",
"installedChannelId": "VisualStudio.17.Release",
"installedChannelUri": "https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/channel",
"releaseNotes": "https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/releases/2022/release-notes-v17.13#17.13.6",
"resolvedInstallationPath": "C:\\Program Files\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\2022\\Community",
"thirdPartyNotices": "https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=661288",
"updateDate": "2025-04-16T12:11:09.5432099Z",
"catalog": {
"buildBranch": "d17.13",
"buildVersion": "17.13.35931.197",
"id": "VisualStudio/17.13.6+35931.197",
"localBuild": "build-lab",
"manifestName": "VisualStudio",
"manifestType": "installer",
"productDisplayVersion": "17.13.6",
"productLine": "Dev17",
"productLineVersion": "2022",
"productMilestone": "RTW",
"productMilestoneIsPreRelease": "False",
"productName": "Visual Studio",
"productPatchVersion": "6",
"productPreReleaseMilestoneSuffix": "1.0",
"productSemanticVersion": "17.13.6+35931.197",
"requiredEngineVersion": "3.13.2069.59209"
},
"properties": {
"campaignId": "",
"canceled": "0",
"channelManifestId": "VisualStudio.17.Release/17.13.6+35931.197",
"includeRecommended": "1",
"nickname": "",
"setupEngineFilePath": "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\Installer\\setup.exe"
}
}
]

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