I followed the instructions to install Visual Studio Build Tools from Microsoft website. Instead of installing it into a Server Core, I installed it into a Windows Nano Server. The build appears to be successful. When I create a container from this image, I can see that vs_buildtools.exe is in the TEMP directory. However, it does not appear any directory called BuildToolsor related - it seems like it wasn't even installed. If I try to run vs_buildtools.exe again, it does not output anything and nothing changes. What am I doing wrong?
Apparently Build Tools can only be installed if the machine has a .NET framework. Since Nanoserver does not support .NET frameworks, then the executable will not run. I installed it in Servercore, even though it is not optimal since it is heavier.