How to enable C++17 compiling in Visual Studio?

There's now a drop down (at least since VS 2017.3.5) where you can specifically select C++17. The available options are (under project > Properties > C/C++ > Language > C++ Language Standard)

• ISO C++14 Standard. msvc command line option: /std:c++14
• ISO C++17 Standard. msvc command line option: /std:c++17
• The latest draft standard. msvc command line option: /std:c++latest

(I bet, once C++20 is out and more fully supported by Visual Studio it will be /std:c++20)

MSBuild (Visual Studio project/solution *.vcproj/*.sln):

Add to Additional options in Project Settings: /std:c++latest to enable latest features - currently C++17 as of VS2017, VS2015 Update 3.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/06/07/standards-version-switches-in-the-compiler/

/permissive- will disable non-standard C++ extensions and will enable standard conformance in VS2017.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/11/16/permissive-switch/

EDIT (Oct 2018): The latest VS2017 features are documented here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/cpp/build/reference/std-specify-language-standard-version

VS2017 supports: /std:[c++14|c++17|c++latest] now. These flags can be set via the project's property pages:

To set this compiler option in the Visual Studio development environment

1. Open the project's Property Pages dialog box. For details, see Working with Project Properties.
2. Select Configuration Properties, C/C++, Language.
3. In C++ Language Standard, choose the language standard to support from the dropdown control, then choose OK or Apply to save your changes.

CMake:

Visual Studio 2017 (15.7+) supports CMake projects. CMake makes it possible to enable modern C++ features in various ways. The most basic option is to enable a modern C++ standard by setting a target's property in CMakeLists.txt:

add_library (${PROJECT_NAME})
set_property (TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME}
  PROPERTY
    # Enable C++17 standard compliance
    CXX_STANDARD 17
)

In the case of an interface library:

add_library (${PROJECT_NAME} INTERFACE)
target_compile_features (${PROJECT_NAME}
  INTERFACE
    # Enable C++17 standard compliance
    cxx_std_17
)

Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 does not support the C++17 feature you are looking for (emplace_back() returning a reference).

Support For C++11/14/17 Features (Modern C++)

C++11/14/17 Features In VS 2015 RTM

VS 2015 Update 2’s STL is C++17-so-far Feature Complete

Visual Studio 2015 Update 3

STL Fixes In VS 2015 Update 3