error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol _main referenced in function ___tmainCRTStartup error

user3814024 picture user3814024 · Jul 7, 2014 · Viewed 13.1k times · Source

I am programming SDL in C++ and I keep getting an error:

    error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol _main referenced in function ___tmainCRTStartup

What can I do to resolve this? Here is my source:

#include <SDL.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
    SDL_Init(SDL_INIT_VIDEO);
    SDL_Window* Window = NULL;
    Window = SDL_CreateWindow("Render Window",0,0,1000,1000, SDL_WINDOW_SHOWN || SDL_WINDOW_FULLSCREEN);
    return 0;
}

My linker and compiler seem fine, I have included console in the subsystem etc. But the error only occurs when I add:

#include <SDL.h>

Answer

djikay picture djikay · Jul 7, 2014

I think "SDL.h" internally includes "SDL_main.h", which contains a weird #define:

#define main SDL_main

which is almost certainly screwing up your own main.

Try adding #undef main after include "SDL.h", e.g.:

#include <SDL.h>
#undef main

Since you said you have already changed SubSystem to Console, that should be all you need.

See this question for more information.