To open an external makefile in the development environment
From the File menu, click Open Workspace.
The Open Project Workspace dialog box appears.
In the Files of type drop-down list, select All Files (*.*) to display all files.
Select the drive and directory containing the previous makefile.
Select the makefile from the list of files and click OK.
–or–
Double-click the filename in the list.
If the makefile is not one that the development environment recognizes, a message box is displayed offering to create a new project workspace to wrap the external makefile.
Click Yes.
A Platforms dialog box appears. Select all the 32-bit platforms your application supports. You must select at least one platform.
Click OK.
A project is created with one file in it, your makefile, but the project will build and run within the development environment, assuming it is 32-bit compatible. However, to take advantage of wizards and integrated debugging features, it would be better for you to create a new project in the development environment, add your existing files to it, set the compile and link settings to match your old makefile, then build and save the up-to-date project.
You can also generate browser information for an external makefile. See Knowledge Base article Q102326. (Connect to https://www.microsoft.com/kb/ to access Knowledge Base articles. Choose Visual C++ in the Choose a Microsoft product or technology drop-down list. Enter the article number in the Enter a Search Phrase text box, then click Begin Search.)