I have compiled an exe file in Visual Studio 2013, and it depends on some external files to function. I want to keep those files in the same folder that the exe is in. When I run the .exe by clicking on it in file explorer, it loads the files fine. However, when I run it from Visual Studio, it is unable to run because the PATH variable does not include the directory with the necessary files. How can I configure my project to run the program with a modified path variable so that it can access the files properly?
As far as I understand you question correctly. I suspect that this is an issue related to the different directories when you execute. In Visual Studio (to my knowledge), you have a folder named Debug and a second folder named Release.
You may choose in Visual Studio to run the program in either debug or release mode. But you might not have the required files neccessary in both directories.
For example:
I've made a program that reads "Hello World!" from hello.txt, and displays this in the dialog window as a string.
If I store the file in the Release directory, the executable will run fine outside the IDE, when just launching the executable file.
However, if you run the application in debug mode through the IDE (Visual Studio), the program will not find the neccessary file. The program is looking for the file in it's current directory (Debug).
A quick fix to this is to copy the required files to the current working directory. Eventually have a duplicate set of files in both directories at all times.
Hope that I did understand you correct, and that my answer helps you. :)
Edit:
Some people started to mark my question as a duplicate. Do not forget that many similar questions existed when I asked this one (see e.g. the list below). However, none of these answers solved my problem. After a long search I found a comment which had been ignored by all users pointing to the missing lib. Now, many months later, the comment has been changed to an answer. However, when I answered this question by msyself I intended to help other people by directly providing the solution. This should not be forgotten and so far my answer helped a lot of people. Therefore my question is definitely not a duplicate. By the way: The accepted answer within the provided link on top does not solve the problem!
Yes, i used the search:
Failed to load platform plugin "windows". Available platforms are : Error
Deploying Qt C++ Application from Visual Studio qwindows.dll error
failed to load platform plugin "windows" Available platforms are: windows, minimal
However, in my case the problem still persists. I am using Qt 5.1.1 with Visual Studio 2012 and developed my Application on Windows 7 with Qt Creator 2.8.1. Application is compiled in "Release"-mode and can be executed if directly started with Qt Creator.
However, when starting from the "release"-Folder, i get the following message:
This application failed to start because it could not find or load the
Qt platform plugin "windows". Available platform plugins are:
minimal, offscreen, windows.
Folder structure looks like this:
release
+ gui.exe
+ icudt51.dll
+ icuin51.dll
+ icuuc51.dll
+ libGLESv2.dll
+ Qt5Core.dll
+ Qt5Gui.dll
+ Qt5Widgets.dll
+ platforms
Platforms is the folder directly copied from Qt\Qt5.1.1\5.1.1\msvc2012\plugins\platforms including e.g. qwindows.dll. Does not matter if I rename it to "platform" as some other users did. Qt is still not finding the "platform plugin windows", where is my mistake?
Okay, as posted here https://stackoverflow.com/a/17271172/1458552 without much attention by other users:
The libEGL.dll was missing! Even though this has not been reported when trying to start the application (all other *.dlls such as Qt5Gui.dll had been reported).
I created a platforms directory next to my exe location and put qwindows.dll inside, but I still received the "Failed to load platform plugin "windows". Available platforms are: windows" error.
I had copied qwindows.dll from C:\Qt\Qt5.1.1\Tools\QtCreator\bin\plugins\platforms, which is not the right location. I looked at the debug log from running in Qt Creator and found that my app was looking in C:\Qt\Qt5.1.1\5.1.1\mingw48_32\plugins\platforms when it ran in the debugger.
When I copied from C:\Qt\Qt5.1.1\5.1.1\mingw48_32\plugins\platforms, everything worked fine.
The release is likely missing a library/plugin or the library is in the wrong directory and or from the wrong directory.
Qt intended answer: Use windeployqt. see last paragraph for explanation
Manual answer:
Create a folder named "platforms" in the same directory as your application.exe file. Copy and paste the qwindows.dll, found in the /bin of whichever compiler you used to release your application, into the "platforms" folder. Like magic it works. If the .dll is not there check plugins/platforms/ ( with plugins/ being in the same directory as bin/ ) <-- PfunnyGuy's comment.
It seems like a common issue is that the .dll was taken from the wrong compiler bin. Be sure to copy your the qwindows.dll from the same compiler as the one used to release your app.
Qt comes with platform console applications that will add all dependencies (including ones like qwindows.dll and libEGL.dll) into the folder of your deployed executable. This is the intended way to deploy your application, so you do not miss any libraries (which is the main issue with all of these answers). The application for windows is called windeployqt. There is likely a deployment console app for each OS.
Setting the QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH environment variable to %QTDIR%\plugins\platforms\ worked for me.
It was also mentioned here and here.
I ran into this and none of the answers I could find fixed it for me. My colleauge has Qt (5.6.0) installed on his machine at:
C:\Qt\Qt5.6.0\5.6\msvc2015\plugins
I have Qt (5.6.2) installed in the same location.
I learned from this post: http://www.tripleboot.org/?p=536, that the Qt5Core.dll has a location to the plugins written to it when Qt is first installed.
Since my colleague's and my Qt directories were the same, but different version of Qt were installed, a different qwindows.dll file is needed. When I ran an exe deployed by him, it would use my C:\Qt\Qt5.6.0\5.6\msvc2015\plugins\platforms\qwindows.dll file instead of the one located next to the executable in the .\platforms subfolder.
To get around this, I added the following line of code to the application which seems to force it to look next to the exe for the 'platforms' subfolder before it looks at the path in the Qt5Core.dll.
QCoreApplication::addLibraryPath(".");
I added the above line to the main method before the QApplication call like this:
int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
QCoreApplication::addLibraryPath(".");
QApplication app( argc, argv );
...
return app.exec();
}
create dir platforms and copy qwindows.dll to it, platforms and app.exe are in the same dir
cd app_dir
mkdir platforms
xcopy qwindows.dll platforms\qwindows.dll
Folder structure
+ app.exe
+ platforms\qwindows.dll
I found another solution. Create qt.conf in the app folder as such:
[Paths]
Prefix = .
And then copy the plugins folder into the app folder and it works for me.
For anyone coming from QT version 5.14.0, it took me 2 days to find this piece statment of bug:
windeployqt does not work for MinGW QTBUG-80763 Will be fixed in
5.14.1
https://wiki.qt.io/Qt_5.14.0_Known_Issues
So be aware. Using windeployqt withMinGW will give the same error stated here.
I had this problem while using QT 5.6, Anaconda 4.3.23, python 3.5.2 and pyinstaller 3.3.
I had created a python program with an interface developed using QTcreator, but had to deploy it to other computers, therefore I needed to make an executable, using pyinstaller.
I've found that the problem was solved on my computer if I set the following environment variables:
QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH: %QTDIR%\plugins\platforms\
QTDIR: C:\Miniconda3\pkgs\qt-5.6.2-vc14_3\Library
But this solution only worked on my PC that had conda and qt installed in those folders.
To solve this and make the executable work on any computer, I've had to edit the ".spec" (file first generated by pyinstaller) to include the following line:
datas=[(
'C:\Miniconda3\pkgs\qt-5.6.2-vc14_3\Library\plugins\platforms*.dll',
'platforms' ),]
This solution is based on the answers of Jim G. and CrippledTable
For me the solution was to correct the PATH variable. It had Anaconda3\Library\bin as one of the first paths. This directory contains some Qt libraries, but not all. Apparently, that is a problem. Moving C:\Programs\Qt\5.12.3\msvc2017_64\bin to the front of PATH solved the problem for me.
Most of these answers contain good (correct) info, but in my case, there was still something missing.
My app is built as a library (dll) and called by a non-Qt application. I used windeployqt.exe to set up the Qt dlls, platforms, plugins, etc. in the install directory, but it still couldn't find the platform. After some experimentation, I realized the application's working directory was set to a different folder. So, I grabbed the directory in which the dll "lived" using GetModuleHandleExA and added that directory to the Qt library path at runtime using
QCoreApplication::addLibraryPath(<result of GetModuleHandleExA>);
This worked for me.
I had the same problem and solved it by applying several things.
The first, if it is a program that you did with Qt.
In the folder (in my case) of "C: \ Qt \ Qt5.10.0 \ 5.10.0 \ msvc2017_64 \ plugins" you find other folders, one of them is "platforms". That "platforms" folder is going to be copied next to your .exe executable. Now, if you get the error 0xc000007d is that you did not copy the version that was, since it can be 32bits or 64.
If you continue with the errors is that you lack more libraries. With the "Dependency Walker" program you can detect some of the missing folders. Surely it will indicate to you that you need an NVIDIA .dll, and it tells you the location.
Another way, instead of using "Dependency Walker" is to copy all the .dll from your "C: \ Windows \ System32" folder next to your executable file. Execute your .exe and if everything loads well, so you do not have space occupied in dll libraries that you do not need or use, use the .exe program with all your options and without closing the .exe you do is erase all the .dll that you just copied next to the .exe, so if those .dll are being used by your program, the system will not let you erase, only removing those that are not necessary.
I hope this solution serves you.
Remember that if your operating system is 64 bits, the libraries will be in the System32 folder, and if your operating system is 32 bits, they will also be in the System32 folder. This happens so that there are no compatibility problems with programs that are 32 bits in a 64-bit computer.
The SysWOW64 folder contains the 32-bit files as a backup.
For a MinGW platform and if you are compiling a Debug target by a hand made CMakeLists.txt written ad hoc you need to add the qwindows.dll to the platform dir as well.
The windeployqt executable does its work well but it seems that for some strange reason the CMake build needs the release variant as well.
In summary it will be better to have both the qwindows.dll and qwindowsd.dll in your platform directory.
I did not notice the same strange result when importing the CMake project in QtCreator and then running the build procedure.
Compiling on the command line the CMake project seems to trigger the qwindows.dll dependency either if the correct one for the Debug target is set in place (qwindowsd.dll)
Use this batch file: RunWithQt.bat
#echo off
set QTDIR=C:\Qt\Qt5.1.1\5.1.1\msvc2012\bin
set QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH=%QTDIR%\plugins\platforms\
start %1
to use it, drag your gui.exe file and drop it on the RunWithQt.bat in explorer,
or call RunWithQt gui.exe from the command line
If you have Anaconda installed I recomend you to uninstall it and try installing python package from source, i fixed this problem in this way
The application qtbase/bin/windeployqt.exe deploys automatically your application. If you start a prompt with envirenmentvariables set correctly, it deploys to the current directory.
You find an example of script:
#echo off
set QTDIR=E:\QT\5110\vc2017
set INCLUDE=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726\ATLMFC\include;S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726\include;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\NETFXSDK\4.6.1\include\um;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.14393.0\ucrt;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.14393.0\shared;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.14393.0\um;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.14393.0\winrt;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\include\10.0.14393.0\cppwinrt
set LIB=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726\ATLMFC\lib\x86;S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726\lib\x86;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\NETFXSDK\4.6.1\lib\um\x86;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\lib\10.0.14393.0\ucrt\x86;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\lib\10.0.14393.0\um\x86;
set LIBPATH=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726\ATLMFC\lib\x86;S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726\lib\x86;S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.15.26726\lib\x86\store\references;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\UnionMetadata\10.0.17134.0;C:\ProgramFiles (x86)\Windows Kits\10\References\10.0.17134.0;C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319;
Path=%QTDIR%\qtbase\bin;%PATH%
set VCIDEInstallDir=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\IDE\VC\
set VCINSTALLDIR=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\
set VCToolsInstallDir=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.11.25503\
set VisualStudioVersion=15.0
set VS100COMNTOOLS=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\Common7\Tools\
set VS110COMNTOOLS=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\Tools\
set VS120COMNTOOLS=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\Tools\
set VS150COMNTOOLS=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\Tools\
set VS80COMNTOOLS=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools\
set VS90COMNTOOLS=c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\Tools\
set VSINSTALLDIR=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\
set VSSDK110Install=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VSSDK\
set VSSDK150INSTALL=S:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\VSSDK
set WindowsLibPath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\UnionMetadata;C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\References
set WindowsSdkBinPath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\
set WindowsSdkDir=C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\
set WindowsSDKLibVersion=10.0.14393.0\
set WindowsSdkVerBinPath=C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\bin\10.0.14393.0\
set WindowsSDKVersion=10.0.14393.0\
set WindowsSDK_ExecutablePath_x64=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v10.0A\bin\NETFX 4.6.1 Tools\x64\
set WindowsSDK_ExecutablePath_x86=C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v10.0A\bin\NETFX 4.6.1 Tools\
mkdir C:\VCProjects\Application\Build\VS2017_QT5_11_32-Release\setup
cd C:\VCProjects\Application\Build\VS2017_QT5_11_32-Release\setup
copy /Y ..\Release\application.exe .
windeployqt application.exe
pause
Lets say, you wanted to have some CGAL-Demos portable. So you'd have a folder "CGAL", and in it, 1 subfolder called "lib": all (common) support-dlls for any programs in the CGAL-folder go here. In our example, this would be the Dll-Download: simply unzip into the "lib" directory. The further you scroll down on the demos-page, the more impressive the content. In my case, the polyhedron-demo seemed about right. If this runs on my 10+ yo notebook, I'm impressed. So I created a folder "demo" in the "CGAL"-directory, alongside "lib".
Now create a .cmd-file in that folder. I named mine "Polyhedron.cmd". So we have a directory structure like this:
CGAL - the bag for all the goodies
lib - all libraries for all CGAL-packages
demo - all the demos I'm interested in
[...] - certainly some other collections, several apps per folder...
Polyhedron.cmd - and a little script for every Qt-exe to make it truly portable.
In this little example, "Polyhedron.cmd" contains the following text:
#echo off
set "me=%~dp0"
set PATH=%me%lib
set "QT_PLUGIN_PATH=%me%lib\plugins"
start /b "CGAL Polyhedron Demo" "%me%demo\polyhedron\polyhedron_3.exe"
All scripts can be the same apart from the last line, obviously. The only caveat is: the "DOS-Window" stays open for as long as you use the actual program. Close the shell-window, and you kill the *.exe as well. Whereever you copy the "CGAL"-folder, as the weird "%~dp0"-wriggle represents the full path to the *.cmd-file that we started, with trailing "\". So "%me%lib" is always the full path to the actual library ("CGAL\lib" in my case). The next 2 lines tell Qt where its "runtime" files are. This will be at least the file "qwindows.dll" for Windows-Qt programs plus any number of *.dlls. If I remember rightly, the Dll-library (at least when I downloaded it) had a little "bug" since it contains the "platforms"-directory with qwindows.dll in it. So when you open the lib directory, you need to create a folder "plugins" next to "platforms", and then move into "plugins". If a Qt-app, any Qt-app, doesn't find "qwindows.dll", it cannot find "windows". And it expects it in a directory named "platforms" in the "plugins" directory, which it has to get told by the OS its running on...and if the "QT_PLUGIN_PATH" is not exactly pointing to all the helper-dlls you need, some Qt-programs will still run with no probs. And some complain about missing *.dlls you've never heard off...
I ran into the same error and solved it with a different method than those mentioned in other posts. Hopefully this will help future readers.
BUILD:
Windows 10 (64bit)
Minicoda (using python 3.9.4) (pkgs are from conda-forge channel)
pyqt 5.12.3
My scenario:
I was building a GUI application for some embedded work. I had two machines that were used for development (same OS and architecture), one had zero internet connection. After packaging up my environment and installing on the offline machine, I ran into the error that you got.
Solution:
locate the qt.conf file in your conda environment.
for me: C:\Users\"name"\miniconda3\envs\"env_name"\qt.conf
Make sure the paths are correct. I needed to update the "name" as this was left over from the old machine.
Hopefully this helps someone.
I had the same problem of running a QT5 application in windows 10 ( VS2019).
My error was
..\Debug\Qt5Cored.dll
Module: 5.14.1
File: kernel\qguiapplication.cpp
Line: 1249
This application failed to start because no Qt platform plugin could be initialized. Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.
Solution
Since I was using QT msvc2017, I copied plugins folders from "C:\Qt\Qt5.14.1\5.14.1\msvc2017\plugins" location to the binary location
it worked.
Then check visual studio output window and identify the dlls loaded from plugin folder and removed unwanted dlls
Setting QT_PLUGIN_PATH env variable to <...>/plugins directory also worked for me.
I got the error when Pycharm was trying to run Matplot. The solution that worked for me was setting the Anaconda3\Library\plugins directory (for example: c:\Program files\Anaconda3\Library\plugins) as environment variable "QT_PLUGIN_PATH".
To set that you should go to Control Panel / System / Advanced System Settings / Environment Variables.
Talking mainly about the Windows platform
Faced the same issue when trying to debug the app build using the vcpkg installed Qt library, while having my app build using cmake. Had trouble for some hours until found the solution. The simplest way is to do the following:
in your build folder, find the folder where the final executable is located.
in that folder, you'll find some Qt libraries, like Qt6Core.dll.
pay attention to whether or not the library file has the d suffix in its name, i.e. Qt6Cored.dll instead of Qt6Core.dll
in the vcpkg folder, you have 2 options
./installed/x64-windows/Qt6/plugins/platforms
./installed/x64-windows/debug/Qt6/plugins/platforms
if the d suffix was present, copy the content of the ../debug/.. folder (otherwise the other one) into the platforms folder in the same folder, where your executable and the Qt libraries are located (if there's no such folder, create on your own).
You can somehow automate this process. Leaving that task to you. If I do that on my own, will update the answer.
Edit
If you are using CMakeLists you may want to give this a try. Add the following to your app's CMakeLists.txt
# assuming your target's name is app
if(WIN32)
add_custom_command(
TARGET app POST_BUILD
COMMAND ${CMAKE_COMMAND} -E copy_directory
${Qt6_DIR}/../../$<$<CONFIG:Debug>:debug/>Qt6/plugins/platforms/
$<TARGET_FILE_DIR:app>/platforms/
)
endif()
I just installed Visual Studio 2012 today, and I was wondering how can you install GLUT and OpenGL on the platform?
OpenGL should be present already - it will probably be Freeglut / GLUT that is missing.
GLUT is very dated now and not actively supported - so you should certainly be using Freeglut instead. You won't have to change your code at all, and a few additional features become available.
You'll find pre-packaged sets of files from here:
http://freeglut.sourceforge.net/index.php#download
If you don't see the "lib" folder, it's because you didn't download the pre-packaged set.
"Martin Payne's Windows binaries" is posted at above link and works on Windows 8.1 with Visual Studio 2013 at the time of this writing.
When you download these you'll find that the Freeglut folder has three subfolders:
- bin folder: this contains the dll files for runtime
- include: the header files for compilation
- lib: contains library files for compilation/linking
Installation instructions usually suggest moving these files into the visual studio folder and the Windows system folder: It is best to avoid doing this as it makes your project less portable, and makes it much more difficult if you ever need to change which version of the library you are using (old projects might suddenly stop working, etc.)
Instead (apologies for any inconsistencies, I'm basing these instructions on VS2010)...
- put the freeglut folder somewhere else, e.g. C:\dev
- Open your project in Visual Studio
- Open project properties
- There should be a tab for VC++ Directories, here you should add the appropriate include and lib folders, e.g.: C:\dev\freeglut\include and C:\dev\freeglut\lib
- (Almost) Final step is to ensure that the opengl lib file is actually linked during compilation. Still in project properties, expand the linker menu, and open the input tab. For Additional Dependencies add opengl32.lib (you would assume that this would be linked automatically just by adding the include GL/gl.h to your project, but for some reason this doesn't seem to be the case)
At this stage your project should compile OK. To actually run it, you also need to copy the freeglut.dll files into your project folder
This is GLUT installation instruction. Not free glut
First download this 118 KB GLUT package from Here
Extract the downloaded ZIP file and make sure you find the following
glut.h
glut32.lib
glut32.dll
If you have a 32 bits operating system, place glut32.dll to C:\Windows\System32\, if your operating system is 64 bits, place it to 'C:\Windows\SysWOW64\' (to your system directory)
Place glut.h C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 12\VC\include\GL\ (NOTE: 12 here refers to your VS version it may be 8 or 10)
If you do not find VC and following directories.. go on create it.
Place glut32.lib to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 12\VC\lib\
Now, open visual Studio and
Under Visual C++, select Empty Project(or your already existing project)
Go to Project -> Properties. Select 'All Configuration' from Configuration dropdown menu on top left corner
Select Linker -> Input
Now right click on "Additional Dependence" found on Right panel and click Edit
now type
opengl32.lib
glu32.lib
glut32.lib
(NOTE: Each .lib in new line)
That's it... You have successfully installed OpenGL.. Go on and run your program.
Same installation instructions aplies to freeglut files with the header files in the GL folder, lib in the lib folder, and dll in the System32 folder.
OpenGL is bundled with Visual Studio. You just need to install GLUT package (freeglut would be fine), which can be found in NuGet.
Open your solution, click TOOLS->NuGet Package Manager->Package Manager Console to open a NuGet console, type Install-Package freeglut.
--
For VS 2013, use nupengl.core package instead.
--
It's 2020 now. Use VCPKG.
For Microsoft Visual Studio 2017 Community GLUT installation -
Download the header, dll's and lib files fro glutdlls37beta (linked in here)
Paste glut.h in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\{14.11.25503}\include\GL
Create the GL folder if not present already. The {thing} may differ.
Paste glut.lib in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\{14.11.25503}\lib\x64.
Paste glut32.lib in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\VC\Tools\MSVC\{14.11.25503}\lib\x86.
The {thing} may differ.
Paste glut32.dll in C:\Windows\System32. Paste glut.dll and glut32.dll in C:\Windows\SysWOW64.
Follow Vishwanath gowda k's answer next.
Go to Project -> Properties(All Configuration option)->Linker -> Input -> Additional Dependencies->edit(down arrow on the right end)
Type->
opengl32.lib
glu32.lib
glut32.lib
Hit Ok->apply.
For an easy and appropriate way of doing this, first download a prepackaged release of freeglut from here. Then read its Readme.txt.
I copied some important parts of that package here:
... Create a folder on your PC which is readable by all users, for example “C:\Program Files\Common Files\MSVC\freeglut\” on a typical Windows system. Copy the “lib\” and “include\” folders from this zip archive to that location ... freeglut DLL can be placed in the same folder as your application...
... Open up the project properties, and select “All Configurations” (this is necessary to ensure our changes are applied for both debug and release builds). Open up the “general” section under “C/C++”, and configure the “include\” folder you created above as an “Additional Include Directory”. If you have more than one GLUT package which contains a “glut.h” file, it’s important to ensure that the freeglut include folder appears above all other GLUT include folders ... Open up the “general” section under “Linker”, and configure the “lib\” folder you created above as an “Additional Library Directory”...
Download the GLUT library. At first step Copy the glut32.dll and paste it in C:\Windows\System32 folder.Second step copy glut.h file and paste it in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC\include folder and third step copy glut32.lib and paste it in c:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\VC\lib folder.
Now you can create visual c++ console application project and include glut.h header file then you can write code for GLUT project.
If you are using 64 bit windows machine then path and glut library may be different but process is similar.
Yes visual studio 2012 express has built in opengl library. the headers are in the folder
C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\8.0\Include\um\gl and the lib files are in folder C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\8.0\Lib\win8\um\x86 & C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\8.0\Lib\win8\um\x64. but the problem is integrating the glut with the existing one..
i downloaded the library from http://www.xmission.com/~nate/glut/glut-3.7.6-bin.zip.. and deployed the files into .....\gl and ....\lib\win8\um\x32 and the dll to %system%/windows folders respectively.. Hope so this will solve the problem...
Download and install Visual C++ Express.
Download and extract "freeglut 2.8.0 MSVC Package" from http://www.transmissionzero.co.uk/software/freeglut-devel/
Installation for Windows 32 bit:
(a) Copy all files from include/GL folder and paste into C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Include\gl folder.
(b) Copy all files from lib folder and paste into C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Lib folder.
(c) Copy freeglut.dll and paste into C:\windows\system32 folder.
Use NupenGL Nuget package. It is actively updated and works with VS 2013 and 2015, whereas Freeglut Nuget package works with earlier versions of Visual Studio only (as of 10/14/2015).
Also, follow this blog post for easy instructions on working with OpenGL and Glut in VS.
the instructions for Vs2012
To Install FreeGLUT
Download "freeglut 2.8.1 MSVC Package" from http://www.transmissionzero.co.uk/software/freeglut-devel/
Extract the compressed file freeglut-MSVC.zip to a folder freeglut
Inside freeglut folder:
On 32bit versions of windows
copy all files in include/GL folder to C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\8.0\Include\um\gl
copy all files in lib folder to C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\8.0\Lib\win8\um\
(note: Lib\freeglut.lib in a folder goes into x86)
copy freeglut.dll to C:\windows\system32
On 64bit versions of windows:(not 100% sure but try)
copy all files in include/GL folder to C:\Program Files(x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Include\um\gl
copy all files in lib folder to C:\Program Files(x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Lib\win8\um\
(note: Lib\freeglut.lib in a folder goes into x86)
copy freeglut.dll to C:\windows\SysWOW64
Create a empty win32 console application c++
Download a package called NupenGL Core from Nuget package manager
(PM->"Install-Package nupengl.core")
except glm everything is configured
create Source.cpp and start working
Happy Coding