"C1083: Cannot open include file: 'winsock2.h': No such file or directory" error when you build Visual C++ projects after you uninstall Visual Studio 2013 Update 3

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Visual Studio Ultimate 2013 Visual Studio Ultimate 2013 Visual Studio Professional 2013 Visual Studio Professional 2013 Visual Studio Premium 2013 Visual Studio Premium 2013 Visual Studio Express 2013 for Web Visual Studio Express 2013 for Web Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows More...Less

Symptoms

Assume that you install Visual Studio 2013 Update 3, and then you uninstall it. When you create a Visual C or Visual C++ project and then you build it, the build fails, and you receive the following error message:

C1083: Cannot open include file: 'winsock2.h': No such file or directory.

Workaround

To work around this issue, use one of the following methods:

Follow these steps to repair Visual Studio:
1. Download the text file from here.
2. Rename the text file to a .bat file extension.
3. Run the .bat file in an administrator command prompt window. This uninstalls the Windows SDK updates that are installed by Visual Studio 2013 Update 3. If you are prompted to restart the system, restart it.
4. Repair Visual Studio.
Install the latest Windows SDK here.

References

For more information about the other known issues that you may experience after you install Visual Studio 2013 Update 3, go to the following knowledge base article:

2933779 Description of Visual Studio 2013 Update 3