solution to unresolved external symbol _com_issue_error _bstr_t::_bstr_t

Posted on March 16, 2006 by ohad

LNK2019: unresolved external symbol “void __stdcall _com_issue_error(long)” (?_com_issue_error@@YGXJ@Z) referenced in function “public: __thiscall _bstr_t::_bstr_t(unsigned short const *)” (??0_bstr_t@@QAE@PBG@Z)

I despise this error. Every time I write a new ATL or WTL app, and don’t use COM much in it, I get this.
I then plow for 10 minutes throuh newsgroups to get it figured.
So, hopefully Google will pick this text up and make the solution shorter for other people.

SOLUTION: #include <comdef.h>

Ben says that If #include comdef.h does not fix the unresolved externals, then make sure you are also linking against comsupp.lib

47 thoughts on “solution to unresolved external symbol _com_issue_error _bstr_t::_bstr_t”

Anonymous on May 25, 2006 at 6:37 AM said:

Hi!

Tnx. It really helped

BTW. It happens also with _variant_t
Anonymous on July 18, 2006 at 10:47 AM said:

Definately helpful. Thanks.
Anonymous on August 1, 2006 at 8:55 AM said:

WOW.. man it really worked!!! Three times cheers to you buddy ..
Anonymous on August 14, 2006 at 8:00 AM said:

Thanks. quick and to the point.
Ed McMan on September 1, 2006 at 12:52 PM said:

Thanks
Anonymous on September 11, 2006 at 12:17 AM said:

Really thanks !!! That was an amazing help
Anonymous on September 22, 2006 at 8:39 AM said:

Thanks!
Anonymous on October 3, 2006 at 5:32 PM said:

Exactly what I needed to know.
Thankyou!
Anonymous on November 1, 2006 at 6:07 AM said:

Thanks, this helped loads.
Paul Maddox on November 3, 2006 at 5:08 AM said:

EXCELLENT, thanks for the help!

(PS. You might want to turn on comment reviews to avoid the spam. )
Hatch Chili Daddy on November 13, 2006 at 12:53 PM said:

Cool Beans! Thanks!
Ben on November 29, 2006 at 11:33 AM said:

Ohad, thank you for this! It is indeed the first Google hit. Please update it as follows: If #include comdef.h does not fix the unresolved externals, then make sure you are also linking against comsupp.lib. That fixed it for me.
Jonas on March 20, 2007 at 9:22 AM said:

Haha! Thanks a lot!

I got 15 of those when I now recompiled my project after a lot of changes. Found you via Google!
Anonymous on September 17, 2007 at 4:22 AM said:

At risk of repeating everyone else – thanks a lot – the evil compiler error is dead – hurrah!
Rabindra on October 19, 2007 at 3:21 AM said:

Thanks man, its really helpful
i was searching for a long time for the conversion..

Cheers,
Rabindra
Anonymous on December 13, 2007 at 5:11 PM said:

adding comsupp.lib worked for me w/o adding #include comdef.h
Anonymous on January 29, 2008 at 3:23 AM said:

THANKS !
Fish in a Barrel on February 22, 2008 at 10:02 AM said:

Google did indeed take me right to this answer. Thanks!
franiu on April 15, 2008 at 8:40 AM said:

Google did its job!

Thans a lot!
Gem on April 30, 2008 at 2:42 PM said:

Thank you very much!
Anonymous on May 7, 2008 at 1:44 PM said:

Even now, 2 years after its original date – this post continues to help lost souls on the Internet. Thanks!
Pals on May 14, 2008 at 4:24 PM said:

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!
Anonymous on July 8, 2008 at 12:50 PM said:

Thank you! You saved the day
sb on November 14, 2008 at 10:46 AM said:

many many thanks!!
Googler on November 24, 2008 at 5:08 AM said:

you + google = problem solved!!

Many thanks
Stan on December 18, 2008 at 2:17 AM said:

Thank you. It really helped )
eldo on December 27, 2008 at 1:48 AM said:

Thank you! Very needed solution!
ibmm on February 13, 2009 at 8:10 AM said:

Great thanks!!!
Anonymous on March 27, 2009 at 8:20 AM said:

Thanks a bunch….Really really appriciate. It make my day and saved my hair!!!!!
Gustavo on April 23, 2009 at 7:58 AM said:

Thanks a lot!!!
Marius on May 6, 2009 at 7:31 AM said:

It really helped! Thanks!
Carlos on May 21, 2009 at 12:52 PM said:

Thnk you very much. It really help a lot. Exact and short, makes it much more valuable. Have a nice day
Mano on July 10, 2009 at 2:02 AM said:

Thanks a lot
Madan on September 2, 2009 at 6:17 AM said:

Proved to be really helpful. Especially when you are distressed and see nothing bright in front of you….this useful tip has shown me life.
Thanks a lot my dear friend.
Sergey on September 17, 2009 at 6:41 AM said:

thanks!
Hamo on November 4, 2009 at 10:06 AM said:

Yesss! Thank you very much for saving my time!
san on November 19, 2009 at 7:27 PM said:

It didn’t solve it for me. But I did figure it out.

I had to add this to my sources file.

USE_VCCOM=1
Oleg on December 10, 2009 at 2:45 PM said:

Thanks a ton!
Boston Greg on March 2, 2010 at 11:49 AM said:

Dude, you are awesome!
Marty Hirsch on March 5, 2010 at 1:16 PM said:

Hi. I want to use _bstr_t and I have #include and I added comsupp.lib to the library list and I still get this error.

The build is driven by a vcproj so we don’t use “sources” files. The moment I invoke _bstr_t this error results. Is there any solution?
Marty Hirsch on March 5, 2010 at 1:17 PM said:

Hi That’s #include comdef above, somehow the posting omitted the string comdef, maybe due to the greater than/less than characters.
Steinar Meen on November 12, 2010 at 10:14 AM said:

Thanx
sara on November 23, 2010 at 2:32 AM said:

when i include
an error occur it is ‘internal compiler error’
Ying on February 17, 2011 at 10:19 AM said:

Thanks, dude, it is great concise post.
Dano on February 26, 2011 at 3:59 PM said:

thanks! it helps a lot, IT is the solution to the problem that we had in our work with compiling a specific dll file. (we are NOT programmers)
izeye on March 6, 2011 at 7:07 AM said:

You saved me. Thanks!
Sam on February 8, 2012 at 2:39 AM said:

Really helpful………..

ohadpr

ideas, hacks and stuff

solution to unresolved external symbol _com_issue_error _bstr_t::_bstr_t

47 thoughts on “solution to unresolved external symbol _com_issue_error _bstr_t::_bstr_t”

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