linker error

[FROSTEDfbii]

Issue with Recognizing C/C++ Source File in Visual Studio Code:

Description: "Visual Studio Code is not recognizing my C/C++ source file and is preventing me from building and debugging."
Build Task Not Found in Visual Studio Code:

Description: "The build task 'gcc build active file' is not found in Visual Studio Code, preventing me from compiling my C program."
Linker Error: Undefined Reference to WinMain:

Description: "Encountering a linker error 'undefined reference to WinMain' when compiling a C console application using GCC on Windows."

[ntrogh]

Transferring issue to C++ tools team.

[Colengms]

Hi @FROSTEDfbii . Could you clarify what exactly you're seeing?

"Visual Studio Code is not recognizing my C/C++ source file and is preventing me from building and debugging."
Build Task Not Found in Visual Studio Code

Could you clarify what "not recognizing" means here? Do you mean that it fails to open, fails to enable C/C++ language service features, or something else? "Build Task Not Found" doesn't seem to be directly related to VS Code or the C/C++ extension failing to 'recognize' a source file as C/C++.

The build task 'gcc build active file' is not found in Visual Studio Code, preventing me from compiling my C program.

This usually means VS Code can’t locate the specific task you’re invoking, in your tasks.json file. Can you provide the contents of your tasks.json file?

Encountering a linker error 'undefined reference to WinMain' when compiling a C console application using GCC on Windows.

This would seem to imply that the compiler and linker are running and encountering an error. If you’re using MinGW and passing -mwindows or other flags that set up a Windows GUI subsystem, the linker expects WinMain. Can you provide the command line you're using to build? This behavior seems related to compiler arguments and not the C/C++ Externsion itself.

The best way for us to assist would be if you could provide a simple, isolated repro, in the form of a zip file or a GitHub repo. That would allow us to investigate the issue locally, hopefully seeing exactly what you see. Also, screenshots and Snipping Tools video records could help us understand what you're seeing.