PRB: Error LNK2001: '_WinMain@16': Unresolved External Symbol

ID: Q125750

The information in this article applies to:

The C Run-Time (CRT), included with:
- Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Editions, versions 2.0, 2.1, 4.0, 5.0, 6.0

SYMPTOMS

The linker generates the following error, when you build an MFC application with UNICODE support using the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article:

msvcrt.lib(crtexew.obj) : error LNK2001: unresolved external
symbol "_WinMain@16"

CAUSE

MFC UNICODE applications use wWinMainCRTStartup as the entry point.

RESOLUTION

In the Output category of the Link tab in the Project Settings dialog box, set the Entry Point Symbol to wWinMainCRTStartup.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

REFERENCES

The above information is documented in Books Online under this structure:


 - C/C++
    - Programming Techniques
       - Chapter 12 Developing for International Markets
          - Support for Unicode
             - Unicode Programming: Summary

This reference also lists the additional steps that you need to consider to take advantage of the MFC and C run-time support for Unicode.

Additional query words: 3.0 Unicode wWinMainCRTStartup

Keywords : kberrmsg kbMFC kbVC200 kbVC210 kbVC400 kbVC500 kbVC600
Version : WinNT:2.0,2.1,4.0,5.0 kbsweptdskey
Platform : NT WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb