Getting msbuild.exe without installing Visual Studio

It used to be installed with the .NET framework. MsBuild v12.0 (2013) is now bundled as a stand-alone utility and has it's own installer.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=40760

To reference the location of MsBuild.exe from within an MsBuild script, use the default $(MsBuildToolsPath) property.

The latest (as of Jan 2019) stand-alone MSBuild installers can be found here: https://www.visualstudio.com/downloads/

Scroll down to "Tools for Visual Studio 2019" and choose "Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019" (despite the name, it's for users who don't want the full IDE)

See this question for additional information.

You can also get the MSBuild executable as a Nuget package https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.Build.Runtime/.