# Linking troubles with GLFW
**URL:** https://discourse.glfw.org/t/linking-troubles-with-glfw/1671
**Category:** support
**Created:** [October 9, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://discourse.glfw.org/t/linking-troubles-with-glfw/1671 "2020-10-09T19:24:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ajcrm125](https://discourse.glfw.org/u/ajcrm125)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://discourse.glfw.org/t/linking-troubles-with-glfw/1671/1 "2020-10-09T19:24:03Z")
It has been a long time since I coded in OpenGL and I am looking to get back into it.
I’ve followed the well-laid out directions here:
> **[LearnOpenGL - Creating a window](https://learnopengl.com/Getting-started/Creating-a-window)**
I’m using MSVS 2012 for WIn10 and am using the pre-compiled GLFW libs for that version.
I have the include and lib paths setup correctly but when build I get the following error:
error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol \_glfwInit referenced in function \_main C:\Users\acourche\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\GLFW\_Test\GLFW\_Test\main.obj GLFW\_Test
error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol \_glfwWindowHint referenced in function \_main C:\Users\acourche\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\GLFW\_Test\GLFW\_Test\main.obj GLFW\_Test
Which indicates linking error.
I have the libs clearly included in the settings for my project:
And the lib path as well.
Is there anything else I’m missing?
Thanks!
-Adam
---
### Author:  [@dougbinks](https://discourse.glfw.org/u/dougbinks)
#### Post date: [October 10, 2020, 9:00am UTC](https://discourse.glfw.org/t/linking-troubles-with-glfw/1671/2 "2020-10-10T09:00:51Z")
Hi @ajcrm125 welcome to the GLFW forums!
It looks like you are linking to **both** the static library version of glfw, `glfw2.lib` and the dll `glfwdll.lib` when you should only be linking to one or the other.
Note that if you want to link to the dll you need to define `GLFW_DLL` before including the GLFD header.
See the documentation for more information:
> **[GLFW: Building applications](https://www.glfw.org/docs/latest/build.html#build_link_win32)**
If you need still need help with creating a VS project, perhaps take a look at:
> **[juliettef/GLFW-CMake-starter](https://github.com/juliettef/GLFW-CMake-starter)**
>
> Use CMake to create a project with GLFW - Multi-platform Windows, Linux and MacOS. - juliettef/GLFW-CMake-starter
Using `cmake` you can generate a Visual Studio project with GLFW code built from source.
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### Author:  [@ajcrm125](https://discourse.glfw.org/u/ajcrm125)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://discourse.glfw.org/t/linking-troubles-with-glfw/1671/3 "2020-10-15T20:37:55Z")
Thanks for the info! I tried allowing only 1 of the 2 libs mentioned but still had linker errors.
I then tried the CMake route but came up with some additional issues:
Surprised to see so many errors. Is compiling GLFW with CMake supported for Visual Studio 2012?
Thanks
-Adam
---
### Author:  [@dougbinks](https://discourse.glfw.org/u/dougbinks)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2020, 8:57pm UTC](https://discourse.glfw.org/t/linking-troubles-with-glfw/1671/4 "2020-10-15T20:57:31Z")
Visual Studio 2012 is pretty old, and some of your errors come from compilation issues due to C compatibility issues with older version of Visual Studio.
I recommend installing the Visual Studio 2019 Community version which is free to use.
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### Author:  [@ajcrm125](https://discourse.glfw.org/u/ajcrm125)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2020, 9:00pm UTC](https://discourse.glfw.org/t/linking-troubles-with-glfw/1671/5 "2020-10-15T21:00:48Z")
Didn’t even know that had a community version. Thanks!