cl invokes the linker after compiling the source files except when one of the following options is specified: /c, /E, /EP, /P, /Zg and /Zs. (/Zg was removed in Visual Studio 2015). c2.dll. /d1 and /d2 options. /Bt option. /B1 option. cl.exe is located under %VSxxxCOMNTOOLS%\MSVC\%VCToolsVersion%\bin (See Visual Studio environment variables) %PATH% variable, VsDevCmd.bat or one of the vcvars32.bat, vcvars64.bat etc. should be run.