Why Does MinGW Raise an 'undefined reference to WinMain@16' Error When Using wWinMain?

wWinmain, Unicode, and MinGW

Issue:

When using MinGW and Code::Blocks, the wWinMain function raises an "undefined reference to WinMain@16" error.

Cause:

MinGW's older versions lack native wWinMain support.

Solution for Older MinGW Versions:

• Use a wrapper like mingw-unicode-main:

  • Add extern "C" to the wmain function and use the -municode option. (This wrapper is no longer necessary for newer MinGW versions.)

Solution for Newer MinGW Versions:

• Use the -municode option.
• Install MinGW-w64, which supports -municode.

Non-Unicode Implications:

• Avoiding Unicode is not recommended for Windows programming.
• Using LPSTR instead of PWSTR may limit functionality and compatibility.

Related Questions:

• Using wmain() entry point in Code::Blocks
• Error during Windows program compilation in Dev-C

• define _UNICODE not working with MinGW CodeBlocks

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