Hey! This C++ sample won’t build on my X64 box!

Not all of the Windows SDK samples with Visual C++ 2005 project files have configurations to build for X64. But you can work around this.  Load the sample in Visual C++ 2005 (Express or non-Express version) and update Configuration Manager under Project | Properties.

Still having problems building? You might not have all the necessary libraries installed.  These are installed for your CPU architecture only by default during setup. If you did not install libraries for all CPU architectures, some samples with Visual C++ 2005 project files may fail to build for all configurations in the project file.  You might see “link fails with "fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file". For example, if a sample has an x86 configuration and no x86 libraries were installed (they won’t be installed by default on an X64 machine), that sample's x86 configuration will fail to build.

To go back and install those missing libraries, open the Control Panel and click on Add/Remove Programs (Programs and Features on Vista). Select the Microsoft Windows SDK and select Change.  Go back through setup and when presented with the Installation Options screen, expand the Windows Vista Headers and Libraries Node and select the libraries you wish to install (like the X86 libraries). Click Next and continue with the installation of the additional feature.