How to make Visual Studio copy a DLL file to the output directory?

visual-studio visual-c++ dll
Mat picture Mat · Nov 21, 2009 · Viewed 112.8k times · Source

I have a Visual Studio C++ project that relies on an external DLL file. How can I make Visual Studio copy this DLL file automatically into the output directory (debug/release) when I build the project?

Answer

Adrien Plisson picture Adrien Plisson · Nov 21, 2009

Use a post-build action in your project, and add the commands to copy the offending DLL. The post-build action are written as a batch script.

The output directory can be referenced as $(OutDir). The project directory is available as $(ProjDir). Try to use relative pathes where applicable, so that you can copy or move your project folder without breaking the post-build action.

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