FIX: Fatal Error LNK1561: Entry Point Must Be Defined

• Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Editions, versions 4.0, 4.1, 4.2

SYMPTOMS

When you build an AppWizard-generated application that has a directory with a trailing backslash (\) specified in the Additional Include Directories field of the C/C++ Preprocessor settings, you receive this error:

   Compiling...
   StdAfx.cpp
   LINK : fatal error LNK1561: entry point must be defined
   Error executing cl.exe. 

CAUSE

The backslash (\) character is interpreted as an escape character.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem, do not include trailing backslashes in the Additional Include Directories field of the C/C++ Preprocessor settings. For example, specify directories as C:\Project\Inc rather than as C:\Project\Inc\. Or if you want to specify the current directory as .\, use just the period (.) instead.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This bug was corrected in Visual C++ version 5.0.

Additional query words: kbVC400bug

Keywords : kbide kbVC kbVC500fix kbGrpDSTools
Version : 4.0 4.1 4.2
Platform : NT WINDOWS
Issue type : kbbug