Cannot open file 'dxguid.lib'

Question

I'm having annoying linker issues - VS2010 claims it cannot find this file, but it's clearly there, and the path is correct - I'm using other lib's in the same folder that all work no problem. (d3d9.lib, and dinput8.lib) I'm using the February 2010 version of DXSDK (DX9) in case that's relevant. I've even tried copy/pasting the file name so I know I didn't mis-type it. My "Additional Dependencies" line looks like this:

Library.lib;d3d9.lib;dinput8.lib;dxguid.lib;%(AdditionalDependencies)

and the Additional Library Directories line is (for Debug build):

$(DXSDK_DIR)\Lib\;$(SolutionDir)\Debug;%(AdditionalLibraryDirectories)

(Library.lib is my own library, stored in the $(SolutionDir)\Debug folder, or Release for the Release build, but that's not the issue.)

The DXSDK directory contains 2 sub-folders, x64 and x86, and the file exists in both of them, along with the other two libraries which work fine. (Running Windows 7 64bit, so it should be using the first one.) Any ideas?

Solution

EDIT: dinput8 and d3d9 libs might already be in the standard libraries (they are way too old), that's why this worked before.

The directory

$(DXSDK_DIR)\Lib

is not a complete path. It must be either

$(DXSDK_DIR)\Lib\x86

or

$(DXSDK_DIR)\Lib\x64

depending on your target.

If you're building your project for 32-bit environment (go to Configration Manager and check the exact target), the use the x86 subdirectory, otherwise x64.

Comments

[Darrel Hoffman]

Hey, that worked! But this begs the question - how in the world was it working before? The other two lib's are in the same folders and it had no trouble finding them. I assumed it was maybe smart enough to recurse into the appropriate subdirectory or something, but clearly not in this case.

[user1703401]

I'm starting to think these obstacles are intentional. Something like "if you can't figure it out then you shouldn't be using this api". OpenCV is another good example of that. Anyhoo, specific to VS2010, the x86 path is the default choice in earlier versions. And common ones, like d3d9.lib are in the Windows SDK lib folder.

[Viktor Latypov]

Added the note to the answer. dinput/d3d9 are very old and might have been in the Windows SDK

[nevelis]

Link is dead, yo. Article is missing on your new blog.

[bparker]

@nevelis and now that link is dead too.

[DreamBliss]

I THINK this link will have or lead to the same info. I am so sorry I did not keep this updated. I went through some pretty big stuff back then. If you can recall anything that is missing, or if you find any other broken links, please let me know: hi-techheadache.blogspot.com/p/using-old-source-code.html