Visual Studio 2012 failing to detect Visual Studio 2008 build tools

I ran into the exact same problem but I Installed Windows SDK 7.1 instead (or the web installer version) and that made it work also.

I remember I've installed it also to the original computer.

Remember you should uninstall first any version of Visual C++ 2010 redistributable, otherwise Windows SDK setup will fail.

I know it's not the perfect solution because Windows SDK is huge, but it's another option.

Before downloading anything try going to project properties -> configuration properties -> general then change the platform Toolset for the project to Visual Studio 2012 (v110)

It turns out that you ALSO have to install Visual Studio 2010.

Once I installed Visual Studio 2010, Visual Studio 2012 was able to detect the Visual Studio 2008 build tools.

It seems absolutely crazy, but there you go.