Dev C++ Makeafile.win Not Letting Program Compile

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Visual C++ includes a C compiler that you can use to create everything from basic console programs to full Windows Desktop applications, mobile apps, and more.

This walkthrough shows how to create a basic, 'Hello, World'-style C program by using a text editor, and then compile it on the command line. If you'd rather work in C++ on the command line, see Walkthrough: Compiling a Native C++ Program on the Command Line. If you'd like to try the Visual Studio IDE instead of using the command line, see Walkthrough: Working with Projects and Solutions (C++) or Using the Visual Studio IDE for C++ Desktop Development.

Check if in the compiler directory there is g.exe.If you can see it go to: Installing c/g on Windows. And download the file full.exe then follow the instruction and put the directory in path. After that restart your pc, go to the cmd and try to compile there. If it works change the toolchain of the IDE. Apr 25, 2009 Can compile source codes, but not projects. Forum: Bloodshed Software Forum. In your case it appears that it is somehow switched to the drive root. Note that makefile.win is generated by Dev-C from the.dev file. If you delete it, you will have to run the build at least once from Dev-C to regenerate it; thereafter you can do a command. Just not to overlook the obvious, but did you search the directory where you installed Dev-C for 'iostream' to make sure iostream.h and iostream.cpp are there?

Prerequisites

To complete this walkthrough, you must have installed either Visual Studio and the optional Visual C++ components, or the Build Tools for Visual Studio.

Visual Studio is a powerful integrated development environment that supports a full-featured editor, resource managers, debuggers, and compilers for many languages and platforms. For information on these features and how to download and install Visual Studio, including the free Visual Studio Community edition, see Install Visual Studio.

The Build Tools for Visual Studio version of Visual Studio installs only the command-line toolset, the compilers, tools, and libraries you need to build C and C++ programs. It's perfect for build labs or classroom exercises and installs relatively quickly. To install only the command-line toolset, download Build Tools for Visual Studio from the Visual Studio downloads page and run the installer. In the Visual Studio installer, select the C++ build tools workload, and choose Install.

Before you can build a C or C++ program on the command line, you must verify that the tools are installed, and that you can access them from the command line. Visual C++ has complex requirements for the command-line environment to find the tools, headers, and libraries it uses. You can't use Visual C++ in a plain command prompt window without some preparation. You need a developer command prompt window, which is a regular command prompt window that has all the required environment variables set. Fortunately, Visual C++ installs shortcuts for you to launch developer command prompts that have the environment set up for command line builds. Unfortunately, the names of the developer command prompt shortcuts and where they're located are different in almost every version of Visual C++ and on different versions of Windows. Your first walkthrough task is to find the right shortcut to use.

Note

A developer command prompt shortcut automatically sets the correct paths for the compiler and tools, and for any required headers and libraries. Some of these values are different for each build configuration. You must set these environment values yourself if you don't use one of the shortcuts. For more information, see Set the Path and Environment Variables for Command-Line Builds. Because the build environment is complex, we strongly recommend you use a developer command prompt shortcut instead of building your own.

These instructions vary depending on which version of Visual Studio you are using. To see the documentation for your preferred version of Visual Studio, use the Version selector control. It's found at the top of the table of contents on this page.

Open a developer command prompt in Visual Studio 2019

If you have installed Visual Studio 2019 on Windows 10, open the Start menu, and then scroll down and open the Visual Studio 2019 folder (not the Visual Studio 2019 app). Choose Developer Command Prompt for VS 2019 to open the command prompt window.

If you're using a different version of Windows, look in your Start menu or Start page for a Visual Studio tools folder that contains a developer command prompt shortcut. You can also use the Windows search function to search for 'developer command prompt' and choose one that matches your installed version of Visual Studio. Use the shortcut to open the command prompt window.

Open a developer command prompt in Visual Studio 2017

If you have installed Visual Studio 2017 on Windows 10, open the Start menu, and then scroll down and open the Visual Studio 2017 folder (not the Visual Studio 2017 app). Choose Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017 to open the command prompt window.

If you're running a different version of Windows, look in your Start menu or Start page for a Visual Studio tools folder that contains a developer command prompt shortcut. You can also use the Windows search function to search for 'developer command prompt' and choose one that matches your installed version of Visual Studio. Use the shortcut to open the command prompt window.

Open a developer command prompt in Visual Studio 2015

Dev C++ Makeafile.win Not Letting Program Compile

If you have installed Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools 2015 on Windows 10, open the Start menu, and then scroll down and open the Visual C++ Build Tools folder. Choose Visual C++ 2015 x86 Native Tools Command Prompt to open the command prompt window.

Next, verify that the Visual C++ developer command prompt is set up correctly. In the command prompt window, enter cl and verify that the output looks something like this:

There may be differences in the current directory or version numbers, depending on the version of Visual C++ and any updates installed. If the above output is similar to what you see, then you're ready to build C or C++ programs at the command line.

Note

If you get an error such as 'cl' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file,' error C1034, or error LNK1104 when you run the cl command, then either you are not using a developer command prompt, or something is wrong with your installation of Visual C++. You must fix this issue before you can continue.

If you can't find the developer command prompt shortcut, or if you get an error message when you enter cl, then your Visual C++ installation may have a problem. If you're using Visual Studio 2017 or later, try reinstalling the Desktop development with C++ workload in the Visual Studio installer. For details, see Install C++ support in Visual Studio. Or, reinstall the Build Tools from the Visual Studio downloads page. Don't go on to the next section until this works. For more information about installing and troubleshooting Visual Studio, see Install Visual Studio.

Note

Depending on the version of Windows on the computer and the system security configuration, you might have to right-click to open the shortcut menu for the developer command prompt shortcut and then choose Run as Administrator to successfully build and run the program that you create by following this walkthrough.

Create a C source file and compile it on the command line

In the developer command prompt window, enter cd c: to change the current working directory to the root of your C: drive. Next, enter md c:simple to create a directory, and then enter cd c:simple to change to that directory. This directory will hold your source file and the compiled program.
Enter notepad simple.c at the developer command prompt. In the Notepad alert dialog that pops up, choose Yes to create a new simple.c file in your working directory.
In Notepad, enter the following lines of code:
On the Notepad menu bar, choose File > Save to save simple.c in your working directory.
Switch back to the developer command prompt window. Enter dir at the command prompt to list the contents of the c:simple directory. You should see the source file simple.c in the directory listing, which looks something like:
The dates and other details will differ on your computer. If you don't see your source code file, simple.c, make sure you've changed to the c:simple directory you created, and in Notepad, make sure that you saved your source file in this directory. Also make sure that you saved the source code with a .c file name extension, not a .txt extension.
To compile your program, enter cl simple.c at the developer command prompt.
You can see the executable program name, simple.exe, in the lines of output information that the compiler displays:
Note
If you get an error such as 'cl' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file,' error C1034, or error LNK1104, your developer command prompt is not set up correctly. For information on how to fix this issue, go back to the Open a developer command prompt section.
Note
If you get a different compiler or linker error or warning, review your source code to correct any errors, then save it and run the compiler again. For information about specific errors, use the search box at the top of this page to look for the error number.
To run your program, enter simple at the command prompt.
The program displays this text and then exits:
Congratulations, you've compiled and run a C program by using the command line.

Next steps

This 'Hello, World' example is about as simple as a C program can get. Real world programs have header files and more source files, link in libraries, and do useful work.

You can use the steps in this walkthrough to build your own C code instead of typing the sample code shown. You can also build many C code sample programs that you find elsewhere. To compile a program that has additional source code files, enter them all on the command line, like:

cl file1.c file2.c file3.c

The compiler outputs a program called file1.exe. To change the name to program1.exe, add an /out linker option:

cl file1.c file2.c file3.c /link /out:program1.exe

And to catch more programming mistakes automatically, we recommend you compile by using either the /W3 or /W4 warning level option:

cl /W4 file1.c file2.c file3.c /link /out:program1.exe

The compiler, cl.exe, has many more options you can apply to build, optimize, debug, and analyze your code. For a quick list, enter cl /? at the developer command prompt. You can also compile and link separately and apply linker options in more complex build scenarios. For more information on compiler and linker options and usage, see C/C++ Building Reference.

You can use NMAKE and makefiles, or MSBuild and project files to configure and build more complex projects on the command line. For more information on using these tools, see NMAKE Reference and MSBuild.

The C and C++ languages are similar, but not the same. The Microsoft C/C++ compiler (MSVC) uses a simple rule to determine which language to use when it compiles your code. By default, the MSVC compiler treats all files that end in .c as C source code, and all files that end in .cpp as C++ source code. To force the compiler to treat all files as C non-dependent of file name extension, use the /Tc compiler option.

MSVC is compatible with the ISO C99 standard, but not strictly compliant. In most cases, portable C code will compile and run as expected. Visual C++ doesn't support most of the changes in ISO C11. Certain library functions and POSIX function names are deprecated by MSVC. The functions are supported, but the preferred names have changed. For more information, see Security Features in the CRT and Compiler Warning (level 3) C4996.

Prerequisites

To complete this walkthrough, you must have installed either Visual Studio and the optional Desktop development with C++ workload, or the command-line Build Tools for Visual Studio.

Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE). It supports a full-featured editor, resource managers, debuggers, and compilers for many languages and platforms. Versions available include the free Visual Studio Community edition, and all can support C and C++ development. For information on how to download and install Visual Studio, see Install C++ support in Visual Studio.

The Build Tools for Visual Studio installs only the command-line compilers, tools, and libraries you need to build C and C++ programs. It's perfect for build labs or classroom exercises and installs relatively quickly. To install only the command-line tools, look for Build Tools for Visual Studio on the Visual Studio Downloads page.

Before you can build a C or C++ program on the command line, verify that the tools are installed, and you can access them from the command line. Visual C++ has complex requirements for the command-line environment to find the tools, headers, and libraries it uses. You can't use Visual C++ in a plain command prompt window without doing some preparation. Fortunately, Visual C++ installs shortcuts for you to launch a developer command prompt that has the environment set up for command line builds. Unfortunately, the names of the developer command prompt shortcuts and where they're located are different in almost every version of Visual C++ and on different versions of Windows. Your first walkthrough task is finding the right one to use.

Note

A developer command prompt shortcut automatically sets the correct paths for the compiler and tools, and for any required headers and libraries. You must set these environment values yourself if you use a regular Command Prompt window. For more information, see Set the Path and Environment Variables for Command-Line Builds. We recommend you use a developer command prompt shortcut instead of building your own.

Open a developer command prompt

If you have installed Visual Studio 2017 or later on Windows 10, open the Start menu and choose All apps. Scroll down and open the Visual Studio folder (not the Visual Studio application). Choose Developer Command Prompt for VS to open the command prompt window.
If you have installed Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools 2015 on Windows 10, open the Start menu and choose All apps. Scroll down and open the Visual C++ Build Tools folder. Choose Visual C++ 2015 x86 Native Tools Command Prompt to open the command prompt window.
You can also use the Windows search function to search for 'developer command prompt' and choose one that matches your installed version of Visual Studio. Use the shortcut to open the command prompt window.
Next, verify that the Visual C++ developer command prompt is set up correctly. In the command prompt window, enter cl and verify that the output looks something like this:
There may be differences in the current directory or version numbers. These values depend on the version of Visual C++ and any updates installed. If the above output is similar to what you see, then you're ready to build C or C++ programs at the command line.
Note
If you get an error such as 'cl' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file,' error C1034, or error LNK1104 when you run the cl command, then either you are not using a developer command prompt, or something is wrong with your installation of Visual C++. You must fix this issue before you can continue.
If you can't find the developer command prompt shortcut, or if you get an error message when you enter cl, then your Visual C++ installation may have a problem. Try reinstalling the Visual C++ component in Visual Studio, or reinstall the Microsoft Visual C++ Build Tools. Don't go on to the next section until the cl command works. For more information about installing and troubleshooting Visual C++, see Install Visual Studio.
Note
Depending on the version of Windows on the computer and the system security configuration, you might have to right-click to open the shortcut menu for the developer command prompt shortcut and then choose Run as administrator to successfully build and run the program that you create by following this walkthrough.

Create a Visual C++ source file and compile it on the command line

In the developer command prompt window, enter md c:hello to create a directory, and then enter cd c:hello to change to that directory. This directory is where your source file and the compiled program are created in.
Enter notepad hello.cpp in the command prompt window.
Choose Yes when Notepad prompts you to create a file. This step opens a blank Notepad window, ready for you to enter your code in a file named hello.cpp.
In Notepad, enter the following lines of code:
This code is a simple program that will write one line of text on the screen and then exit. To minimize errors, copy this code and paste it into Notepad.
Save your work! In Notepad, on the File menu, choose Save.
Congratulations, you've created a C++ source file, hello.cpp, that is ready to compile.
Switch back to the developer command prompt window. Enter dir at the command prompt to list the contents of the c:hello directory. You should see the source file hello.cpp in the directory listing, which looks something like:
The dates and other details will differ on your computer. If you don't see your source code file, hello.cpp, make sure you've changed to the c:hello directory you created. In Notepad, make sure that you saved your source file in this directory. Also make sure that you saved the source code with a .cpp file name extension, not a .txt extension.
At the developer command prompt, enter cl /EHsc hello.cpp to compile your program.
The cl.exe compiler generates an .obj file that contains the compiled code, and then runs the linker to create an executable program named hello.exe. This name appears in the lines of output information that the compiler displays. The output of the compiler should look something like:
Note
If you get an error such as 'cl' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file,' error C1034, or error LNK1104, your developer command prompt is not set up correctly. For information on how to fix this issue, go back to the Open a developer command prompt section.
Note
If you get a different compiler or linker error or warning, review your source code to correct any errors, then save it and run the compiler again. For information about specific errors, use the search box on this MSDN page to look for the error number.
To run the hello.exe program, at the command prompt, enter hello.
The program displays this text and exits:
Congratulations, you've compiled and run a C++ program by using the command-line tools.

Next steps

This 'Hello, World' example is about as simple as a C++ program can get. Real world programs usually have header files, more source files, and link to libraries.

You can use the steps in this walkthrough to build your own C++ code instead of typing the sample code shown. These steps also let you build many C++ code sample programs that you find elsewhere. You can put your source code and build your apps in any writeable directory. By default, the Visual Studio IDE creates projects in your user folder, in a sourcerepos subfolder. Older versions may put projects in a *DocumentsVisual Studio <version>Projects folder.

Dev C++ Makeafile.win Not Letting Program Compiled

To compile a program that has additional source code files, enter them all on the command line, like:

cl /EHsc file1.cpp file2.cpp file3.cpp

The /EHsc command-line option instructs the compiler to enable standard C++ exception handling behavior. Without it, thrown exceptions can result in undestroyed objects and resource leaks. For more information, see /EH (Exception Handling Model).

When you supply additional source files, the compiler uses the first input file to create the program name. In this case, it outputs a program called file1.exe. To change the name to program1.exe, add an /out linker option:

cl /EHsc file1.cpp file2.cpp file3.cpp /link /out:program1.exe

Dev C++ Makeafile.win Not Letting Program Compiler

And to catch more programming mistakes automatically, we recommend you compile by using either the /W3 or /W4 warning level option:

cl /W4 /EHsc file1.cpp file2.cpp file3.cpp /link /out:program1.exe

The compiler, cl.exe, has many more options. You can apply them to build, optimize, debug, and analyze your code. For a quick list, enter cl /? at the developer command prompt. You can also compile and link separately and apply linker options in more complex build scenarios. For more information on compiler and linker options and usage, see C/C++ Building Reference.

You can use NMAKE and makefiles, MSBuild and project files, or CMake, to configure and build more complex projects on the command line. For more information on using these tools, see NMAKE Reference, MSBuild, and CMake projects in Visual Studio.

The C and C++ languages are similar, but not the same. The MSVC compiler uses a simple rule to determine which language to use when it compiles your code. By default, the MSVC compiler treats files that end in .c as C source code, and files that end in .cpp as C++ source code. To force the compiler to treat all files as C++ independent of file name extension, use the /TP compiler option.

The MSVC compiler includes a C Runtime Library (CRT) that conforms to the ISO C99 standard, with minor exceptions. Portable code generally compiles and runs as expected. Certain obsolete library functions, and several POSIX function names, are deprecated by the MSVC compiler. The functions are supported, but the preferred names have changed. For more information, see Security Features in the CRT and Compiler Warning (level 3) C4996.

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Dev C++ Makeafile.win Not Letting Program Compile

Prerequisites

Open a developer command prompt in Visual Studio 2019

Open a developer command prompt in Visual Studio 2017

Open a developer command prompt in Visual Studio 2015

Create a C source file and compile it on the command line

Next steps

See also

Prerequisites

Open a developer command prompt

Create a Visual C++ source file and compile it on the command line

Next steps

Dev C++ Makeafile.win Not Letting Program Compiled

Dev C++ Makeafile.win Not Letting Program Compiler

See also