I think my trouble was the result of slightly confusing documentation so maybe this is a good chance to fix it. I also have some questions regarding the build system that I'd like to ask below and will indicate where I think the docs could be improved as I go along. Referring now to the instructions at http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_53_0/more/getting_started/windows.html#prepa... Section 5.2 indicates that the "simplified build" is available only with Visual Studio so I moved on to section 5.3. It says I need to use Boost.Build so I followed the instructions in section 5.3.1 with a slight modification. Here is what I typed into cmd.exe: $ cd boost_root\tools\build\v2\ $ bootstrap.bat gcc $ b2 install --prefix=boost_root\my-build Added boost_root\my-build\bin to PATH $ cd boost_root $ b2 --build-dir=boost_root\my-build\tmp toolset=gc --with-regex --layout=tagged stage In line 2, is "gcc" needed? If so is it just telling b2 what compiler tool chain to use? Why is it necessary to add boost_root\my-build\bin to PATH? Does the second invocation of b2 use executables from there? In the final invocation of b2, note that I did not follow the instructions and put --build-type=complete. Of course, the first time through I did do that but it takes forever and builds a ton of stuff I didn't need. I think it would be really useful to change the documentation so newbies like me don't spend a lot of time incorrectly building the entire lib set. The chance of getting things right the first time seems kind of low and it's a bit wasteful to wait an hour for each attempt, particularly since building only regex, which is all I needed, only takes a few seconds. The note about --with at the end of 5.3.4 should maybe be moved up. Also, I think it might be useful, particularly in the Windows instructions, to explain why the files are being written to a directory called stage. This confused me quite a lot until I realized that it makes sense in the Unix multi-user environment. I really think explaining the thinking behind how this is done in the documentation would be a great help to newcomers. My most important question is - do I actually need to go through the steps in building Boost.Build into boost_root\my-build? It seems like bootstrap.bat works from boost_root and makes b2.exe. What's the difference between doing that and doing it from boost_root\tools\build\v2 ? Ok, now the last thing is that this other set of instructions found here http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_53_0/doc/html/bbv2/installation.html really confused me. I now realize they are instructions for installing Boost.Build, but since I first found it through google search and didn't know what I was doing, I thought it was instructions for the libs. It might be useful to add an explicit note that they are not instructions for the lib and perhaps a link to the "getting started" page I refer to above. Thanks so much. I'm trying to understand "why?" and not just "what?" -kjoppy