Running CUDA samples with Visual Studio 2017

I've been installing the CUDA drivers on a Windows 10 box with Visual Studio 2017, and trying to get the CUDA samples to compile. Although solution files are provided for VS2017 (among other VSs), you will get something similar to the following error when you attempt to compile:

error MSB8036: The Windows SDK version 10.0.15063.0 was not found. Install the required version of Windows SDK or change the SDK version in the project property pages or by right-clicking the solution and selecting "Retarget solution".

Right-clicking on the solution and retargeting gets you a bit further:

fatal error C1189: #error:  -- unsupported Microsoft Visual Studio version! Only the versions 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2017 are supported!

...which is funny, because I am using VS2017. If you dig into it, it's the specific version that's the problem, and there doesn't seem to be an easy fix.

However, a nice feature (finally!) of VS2017 is that you can optionally install other compiler toolchains. If you rerun your VS2017 Installer, and find the Modify option (under More), you will see a whole bunch of extra features you can install under "Individual components". The one of interest here is "VC++ 2015.3 v140 toolset for desktop". Once installed, you can instead open the Visual Studio 2015 solutions, and the good news is that these successfully compile.