xxxxxx.exe is not a valid Win32 application

Question

I have small C/C++ project in Visual Studio 2012 RC

This applications parses the argv and then calling another .exe file with ShellExecute

My ap

Answer 1

While seleted answer was right time ago, and then noelicus gave correct update regarding v110_xp platform toolset, there is still one more issue that could produse this behaviour.

A note about issue was already posted by mahesh in his comment, and I would like to highlight this as I have spend couple of days struggling and then find it by myself.

So, if you have a blank in "Configuration Properties -> Linker -> System -> Subsystem" you will still get the "not valid Win32 app" error on XP and Win2003 while on Win7 it works without this annoying error. The error gone as soon as I've put subsystem:console.

Answer 2

It's Feb 2013, and I can now target XP in VS2012 by setting:

Project Properties -> General -> Platform Toolset to:

Visual Studio 2012 - Windows XP (v110_xp)

You will have to redistribute the msvcp110.dll libraries et al with your application, which are found here: "<Program Files>\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC\redist\x86\Microsoft.VC110.CRT\"

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Update Aug 2015 with Visual Studio 2015

There seems to be quite a selection now. I was able to compile application in VS2015 using Visual Studio 2015 - Windows XP (v140_xp) setting. To make it actually run on Win XP I had to deploy (copy alongside application) msvcr100.dll for Release build and msvcr110.dll and msvcr100d.dll for Debug build (note there is a difference in numbers 100 and 110, also debug lib msvcr100d.dll may not be redistributable)