How do you add library files in Visual Studio?

1 year ago
Ava Mitchell
2 minutes

There are two common methods to add library files in Visual Studio.

  1. Utilize the attribute manager:
  2. Open the “View” menu and select “Property Manager” under “Other Windows”.
  3. Expand your project in the solution explorer window and then expand either the “Debug” or “Release” folder, depending on which configuration you want to add library files to.
  4. Right-click on the “Microsoft.Cpp.Win32.user” file and select “Properties”.
  5. In the pop-up dialog box, expand the “Linker” tab and select “Input”.
  6. In the “Additional Dependencies” field, click on the dropdown arrow on the right, and then select “Edit”.
  7. In the pop-up dialog box, click on the “Add New Item” button, browse and select the library file you want to add, then click “OK”.
  8. Click the “Apply” and “OK” buttons to save the changes.
  9. Use the pragma directive:
  10. Open your source code file.
  11. Add the following line of code in the places where library functions are needed: #pragma comment(lib, “libraryname.lib”), where “libraryname.lib” is the name of the library file you want to add.
  12. When you compile and run your code, VS will automatically link and load the library file.

Both methods can be used to add library files to your project for use of the corresponding library functions in the code.

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