Can't compile bare minimum void main() {} in Visual Studio Community 2015 (LNK2019 - MSVCRTD.lib)

Question

I installed Visual Studio Community 2015 on a fairly fresh Win10 install that never had any IDEs/dev tools installed on it.

I made an empty c++ project, added main.cpp , set the entry point to main and added the bare minimum:

void main()
{

}

On VS2013 I could do this without any issues. I am getting linker errors with this that I haven't been able to figure out:

Severity    Code    Description File    Line
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol __CrtDbgReport referenced in function __CRT_RTC_INIT C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_init_.obj) 1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol __CrtDbgReportW referenced in function __CRT_RTC_INITW   C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_init_.obj) 1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol ___stdio_common_vsprintf_s referenced in function __vsprintf_s_l C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_error_.obj)    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol __wmakepath_s referenced in function "int __cdecl GetPdbDllPathFromFilePath(wchar_t const *,wchar_t *,unsigned int)" (?GetPdbDllPathFromFilePath@@YAHPB_WPA_WI@Z)    C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_pdblkup_.obj)  1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol __wsplitpath_s referenced in function "int __cdecl GetPdbDllPathFromFilePath(wchar_t const *,wchar_t *,unsigned int)" (?GetPdbDllPathFromFilePath@@YAHPB_WPA_WI@Z)   C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_pdblkup_.obj)  1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol _wcscpy_s referenced in function "int __cdecl GetPdbDllPathFromFilePath(wchar_t const *,wchar_t *,unsigned int)" (?GetPdbDllPathFromFilePath@@YAHPB_WPA_WI@Z)    C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_pdblkup_.obj)  1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol ___vcrt_GetModuleFileNameW referenced in function "struct HINSTANCE__ * __cdecl GetPdbDll(void)" (?GetPdbDll@@YAPAUHINSTANCE__@@XZ)  C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_pdblkup_.obj)  1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol ___vcrt_GetModuleHandleW referenced in function "struct HINSTANCE__ * __cdecl GetPdbDll(void)" (?GetPdbDll@@YAPAUHINSTANCE__@@XZ)    C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_pdblkup_.obj)  1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol ___vcrt_LoadLibraryExW referenced in function "struct HINSTANCE__ * __cdecl GetPdbDll(void)" (?GetPdbDll@@YAPAUHINSTANCE__@@XZ)  C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_pdblkup_.obj)  1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol __except_handler4_common referenced in function __except_handler4    C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\MSVCRTD.lib(_chandler4gs_.obj)  1
Error   LNK1120 10 unresolved externals C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\Debug\ConsoleApplication1.exe   1

---

Update:

I changed two configuration properties:

• Linker > Input > Ignore All Default Libraries > Yes (/NODEFAULTLIB)
• C/C++ > Code Generation > Basic Runtime Checks > Default

This let me build the above bare minimum code however after adding some other trivial code, I am getting a slew of other issues. I can't fathom why VSC15 would be this messed up out of the box:

#include <string>

using namespace std;

void main()
{
    string blah = "string";
}

It should be trivial to include a standard library and yet:

Severity    Code    Description File    Line
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol "void * __cdecl operator new(unsigned int)" (??2@YAPAXI@Z) referenced in function "void * __cdecl std::_Allocate(unsigned int,unsigned int,bool)" (?_Allocate@std@@YAPAXII_N@Z)  C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol "void __cdecl operator delete(void *)" (??3@YAXPAX@Z) referenced in function "void __cdecl std::_Deallocate(void *,unsigned int,unsigned int)" (?_Deallocate@std@@YAXPAXII@Z)    C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol __imp___invalid_parameter referenced in function "void * __cdecl std::_Allocate(unsigned int,unsigned int,bool)" (?_Allocate@std@@YAPAXII_N@Z)   C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) public: __thiscall std::_Lockit::_Lockit(int)" (__imp_??0_Lockit@std@@QAE@H@Z) referenced in function "public: void __thiscall std::_Container_base12::_Orphan_all(void)" (?_Orphan_all@_Container_base12@std@@QAEXXZ)    C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) public: __thiscall std::_Lockit::~_Lockit(void)" (__imp_??1_Lockit@std@@QAE@XZ) referenced in function "public: void __thiscall std::_Container_base12::_Orphan_all(void)" (?_Orphan_all@_Container_base12@std@@QAEXXZ)   C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol _memcpy referenced in function "public: static char * __cdecl std::char_traits<char>::copy(char *,char const *,unsigned int)" (?copy@?$char_traits@D@std@@SAPADPADPBDI@Z)    C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol __imp__memmove referenced in function "public: static char * __cdecl std::char_traits<char>::move(char *,char const *,unsigned int)" (?move@?$char_traits@D@std@@SAPADPADPBDI@Z) C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol _strlen referenced in function "public: static unsigned int __cdecl std::char_traits<char>::length(char const *)" (?length@?$char_traits@D@std@@SAIPBD@Z)    C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol __imp___CrtDbgReportW referenced in function "void * __cdecl std::_Allocate(unsigned int,unsigned int,bool)" (?_Allocate@std@@YAPAXII_N@Z)   C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) void __cdecl std::_Debug_message(wchar_t const *,wchar_t const *,unsigned int)" (__imp_?_Debug_message@std@@YAXPB_W0I@Z) referenced in function "void __cdecl std::_Debug_pointer<char const >(char const *,wchar_t const *,unsigned int)" (??$_Debug_pointer@$$CBD@std@@YAXPBDPB_WI@Z)   C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) void __cdecl std::_Xbad_alloc(void)" (__imp_?_Xbad_alloc@std@@YAXXZ) referenced in function "void * __cdecl std::_Allocate(unsigned int,unsigned int,bool)" (?_Allocate@std@@YAPAXII_N@Z) C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) void __cdecl std::_Xlength_error(char const *)" (__imp_?_Xlength_error@std@@YAXPBD@Z) referenced in function "public: void __thiscall std::basic_string<char,struct std::char_traits<char>,class std::allocator<char> >::_Xlen(void)const " (?_Xlen@?$basic_string@DU?$char_traits@D@std@@V?$allocator@D@2@@std@@QBEXXZ)  C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) void __cdecl std::_Xout_of_range(char const *)" (__imp_?_Xout_of_range@std@@YAXPBD@Z) referenced in function "public: void __thiscall std::basic_string<char,struct std::char_traits<char>,class std::allocator<char> >::_Xran(void)const " (?_Xran@?$basic_string@DU?$char_traits@D@std@@V?$allocator@D@2@@std@@QBEXXZ)  C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol @__security_check_cookie@4 referenced in function __unwindfunclet$??0?$_String_alloc@U?$_String_base_types@DV?$allocator@D@std@@@std@@@std@@QAE@ABV?$allocator@D@1@@Z$0  C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol __CxxThrowException@8 referenced in function __catch$?_Copy@?$basic_string@DU?$char_traits@D@std@@V?$allocator@D@2@@std@@QAEXII@Z$1  C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol ___CxxFrameHandler3 referenced in function __unwindfunclet$??0?$_String_alloc@U?$_String_base_types@DV?$allocator@D@std@@@std@@@std@@QAE@ABV?$allocator@D@1@@Z$0 C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2019 unresolved external symbol ___security_cookie referenced in function "public: __thiscall std::_String_alloc<struct std::_String_base_types<char,class std::allocator<char> > >::_String_alloc<struct std::_String_base_types<char,class std::allocator<char> > >(class std::allocator<char> const &)" (??0?$_String_alloc@U?$_String_base_types@DV?$allocator@D@std@@@std@@@std@@QAE@ABV?$allocator@D@1@@Z) C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\main.obj    1
Error   LNK2001 unresolved external symbol __load_config_used   C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\ConsoleApplication1\LINK    1
Error   LNK1120 18 unresolved externals C:\Users\[user]\Desktop\VS_TEST\ConsoleApplication1\Debug\ConsoleApplication1.exe   1

Answer 1

Ok I figured it out but it leads to another question.

The problem was both that I was defining /ENTRY:Main in Linker > Advanced > Entry Point in addition to the entry point being Main and not main .

All the paths/libraries were all in order, surprisingly. I undid the changes to the configuration mentioned under the "Update:" line in the question - that wasn't the issue.

What makes this really weird is that I absolutely could do exactly that above in Visual Studio 2013 (from which I migrated the project). Perhaps even weirder.. I have another project that I also migrated in the same fashion that also has Main specifically declared as the entry point and yet it gets no complaints from the linker.