I created a new project in VS 2019 and it doesn't compile because VS fails to find Toolset v142

To prove your issue, I have made a small test:

1) create a new system environment variable called VCTargetsPath and then set its value to

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft.Cpp\v4.0\V140\

2) then restart VS and also set the the Platfrom Toolset to v142under Project Properties.

3) then rebuild the project and get the same error:

Since you new created project has also the error, so I think you have do some changes to system environment variable.

Also, you should note that this path is for old VS2015.

However, VS2019 uses:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\MSBuild\Microsoft\VC\v160\Platforms\Win32\PlatformToolsets\v142

You make a change so that it will overwrite the system value for VS2019 which leads to the issue. The value is global and affects all the vs versions on your current PC.

Suggestion

1) You should check your system environment variable and search for VCTargetsPath, if you has this variable, please delete it.

2) or if you have this variable VCTargetsPath, change its value to, or if you do not have it, create it and set its value to VS2019.