/FD (IDE Minimal Rebuild)
/FD is only exposed to users in the Command Line property page of a C++ project's Property Pages dialog box. It's available if and only if the deprecated and off-by-default /Gm (Enable Minimal Rebuild) option isn't selected. /FD has no effect other than from the development environment. /FD isn't exposed in the output of cl /?.
If you don't enable the deprecated /Gm option in the development environment, /FD is used. /FD ensures the .idb file has sufficient dependency information. /FD is only used by the development environment, and it shouldn't be used from the command line or a build script.
See also
Output-File (/F) Options
MSVC Compiler Options
MSVC Compiler Command-Line Syntax
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