VC++ Directories Property Page

 

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The latest version of this topic can be found at VC++ Directories Property Page.

Specifies the directories that you want Visual Studio to use to build a project. To access this property page, in Solution Explorer, open the shortcut menu for the project and choose Properties, and then in the left pane of the Property Pages dialog box, expand Configuration Properties and select VC++ Directories.

When you use Visual Studio to create a project, it inherits certain directories. Many of these are given as macros. To examine the current value of a macro, in the right pane of the VC++ Directories page, select a row—for example, Include Directories—choose the down-arrow button on the right, choose Edit, and then in the dialog box that appears, choose the Macros button. For more information, see these blog posts: VC++ Directories, Inherited Properties and Property Sheets, and Visual Studio 2010 C++ Project Upgrade Guide.

Directory Types

You can also specify other directories, as follows.

Executable Directories
Directories in which to search for executable files. Corresponds to the PATH environment variable.

Include Directories
Directories in which to search for include files that are referenced in the source code. Corresponds to the INCLUDE environment variable.

Reference Directories
Directories in which to search for assembly and module (metadata) files that are referenced in the source code by the #using directive. Corresponds to the LIBPATH environment variable.

Library Directories
Directories in which to search for libraries (.lib) files; this includes run-time libraries. Corresponds to the LIB environment variable. This setting does not apply to .obj files; to link to an .obj file, on the LinkerGeneral property page, select Additional Library Dependencies and then specify the relative path of the file.

Source Directories
Directories in which to search for source files to use for IntelliSense.

Exclude Directories
Directories not to search when checking for build dependencies.

To specify or modify directory settings

  1. In Solution Explorer, open the shortcut menu for the project you want to change and then choose Properties.

  2. In the left pane of the Property Pages dialog box, expand Configuration Properties and then select VC++ Directories.

  3. To modify one of the directory lists, select it, choose the down-arrow button on the right, and then choose Edit.

    In the box in the dialog box that appears, you can add or remove values, and you can rearrange the order in which the values appear. You can also change whether the project inherits any settings by selecting or clearing Inherit from parent or project defaults.

Sharing the Settings

You can share project properties with other users or across multiple computers. For more information, see Working with Project Properties.

See Also

Working with Project Properties