# BasicApp fails to build; Linker error (Win7, VS2017)

**URL:** <https://discourse.libcinder.org/t/basicapp-fails-to-build-linker-error-win7-vs2017/537>\
**Category:** Uncategorized\
**Created:** [February 1, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://discourse.libcinder.org/t/basicapp-fails-to-build-linker-error-win7-vs2017/537 "2017-02-01T21:36:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scruff3y](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@scruff3y](https://discourse.libcinder.org/u/scruff3y)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://discourse.libcinder.org/t/basicapp-fails-to-build-linker-error-win7-vs2017/537/1 "2017-02-01T21:36:53Z")

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Hi everyone, newbie here.

I’ve downloaded the latest packaged release for Cinder and I tried building the BasicApp to see if everything was set up correctly. Unfortunately I get a linker error: LNK1104; cannot open file cinder-v140\_d.lib. I did try following the VS help link, but I don’t think any of the issues listed there are what’s causing the problem. [Here’s a link](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cpp/error-messages/tool-errors/linker-tools-error-lnk1104) to the help page.

I did try adding

```
cinder_0.9.0_vc2013\lib\msw\x86

```

to my library path in VS preferences but no dice. :\

As title says, I’m on Windows 7 using Visual Studio 2017. Thanks for any insight!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![paul.houx](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/discourse.libcinder.org/paul.houx/32/31_2.png) [@paul.houx](https://discourse.libcinder.org/u/paul.houx)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://discourse.libcinder.org/t/basicapp-fails-to-build-linker-error-win7-vs2017/537/2 "2017-02-01T21:59:30Z")

</div>

Hi,

the packaged release for Cinder only supports Visual Studio 2013, or to be more precise: toolset v120. It is recommended that you install Visual Studio 2013 to obtain that version of the toolset (there’s no other way to get it). Afterwards, you can keep using Visual Studio 2017 as your IDE of choice, but **do not** upgrade the Cinder project or your own project to toolset v140.

However, Cinder should support toolset v140 without any modifications, but you’ll need to compile it yourself. To do that, open the `cinder.vcxproj` file, upgrade it to toolset v140 when Visual Studio asks you about it and compile both the `Debug` and `Release` targets. The `cinder-v140_d.lib` file should then appear in the correct lib folder.

See also [this long explanation](https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/vcblog/2016/02/24/stuck-on-an-older-toolset-version-move-to-visual-studio-2015-without-upgrading-your-toolset/).

-Paul

P.S. let us know if you have more questions.