LINK : fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'MSVCRTD.lib'

Question

I\'m a novice C++ developer. I encontered the error message indicates \"LINK :fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file \'MSVCRTD.lib\'\" while I\'m trying to debug every single

Answer 1

I ran into this using Visual Studio 2017. I tried the solutions suggested here with explicitly adding paths to where the 'MSVCRT.lib' file was located. But I felt this probably wasn't the correct approach because previously for the past several weeks this had not been a problem with my project.

After trial and error, I discovered that if I left an empty or blank value in the Linker --> Input section, it would give me the error about LNK1104: cannot open file 'MSVCRT.lib'. Eventually I figured out that I should leave this value there instead.

On the Visual Studio project, right-Clicking on the project item in the Solution explorer panel (not the Solution itself, which is the topmost item), then select Properties. From there do the following:

Linker --> Input : %(AdditionalDependencies)

This additional information might be helpful, if you got into the situation the same way I did. I have discovered that I should not put any non-system library paths in the Linker --> Input section. With my project I was trying to compile with external .lib files. Previously I had a value in this input section like: $(ProjectDir)lib; %(AdditionalDependencies) but this lead to other problems. I discovered the correct place (it seems so far) to put paths for referencing external .lib files in a C/C++ project in Visual Studio 2017 is here:

VC++ Directories --> Library Directories : $(ProjectDir)lib; $(LibraryPath)

Note the $(LibraryPath) value will include extra values such as inherited from parents. My folder project contained a folder called 'lib' which is why I had the first value there before the semicolon.