CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c++visual-studio-2010windows-7
Jason94
Jason94

Reputation: 13620

Unresolved external symbol fail in VERY simple application

The simple code fails:

#include <Windows.h>

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd)
{
    MessageBox(NULL, L"Hello World!", L"Just another Hello World program!", MB_ICONEXCLAMATION | MB_OK);

    return 0;
}

Errors:

Error 1 error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol main referenced in function __tmainCRTStartup ... Projects\DX11_3\DX11_3\MSVCRTD.lib(crtexe.obj) DX11_3

Error 2 error LNK1120: 1 unresolved externals ... Projects\DX11_3\Debug\DX11_3.exe 1 1 DX11_3

What could be wrong? I've downloaded and installed Windows SDK, added det include folder to the project.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1245

Answers (3)

Adrien Plisson
Adrien Plisson

Reputation: 23303

you are compiling your application as a "Console Application", so Visual Studio tries to find an entry point named main(). but your code defines a "GUI Application" with an entry point named WinMain().

you should edit your project settings and set the application type to "Console application" in the Linker settings.

Upvotes: 1

Lundin
Lundin

Reputation: 214810

Strictly and formally speaking, your program doesn't contain a function named main, so it isn't valid C++.

To enable non-standard extensions like WinMain, you will have to make sure you are creating a Windows project, or that the compiler options are set to compile a Windows program.

Upvotes: 1

Collin Dauphinee
Collin Dauphinee

Reputation: 13993

The program's entry point is where execution starts at. For a console application, this defaults to main. For a Windows application with no console, this defaults to WinMain.

The linker is searching for main, most likely because you created a console application. Go into your project settings and change the subsystem to Windows. You can find this option in Configuration Settings -> Linker -> System

Upvotes: 2

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