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SDL2_windows_setup

Setup guide to install SDL2 on Windows with Visual Studio 2022

SDL2_window_setup

Setup guide to install SDL2 on Windows with Visual Studio 2022.

1. Download the SDL, SDL_mixer, and SDL_image Development Libaries

  1. Go to this page to download the lastest SDL and SDL_mixer VC++ development libaries:
    • https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL/releases
    • https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_mixer/releases
    • https://github.com/libsdl-org/SDL_image/releases

  2. Download these files (SDL2-devel-2.30.5-VC.zip, SDL2_mixer-devel-2.8.0-VC.zip, SDL2_image-devel-2.8.2-VC.zip)

  3. Extract the zip files (SDL2-devel-2.30.5-VC.zip, SDL2_mixer-devel-2.8.0-VC.zip, SDL2_image-devel-2.8.2-VC.zip)

  4. Create a folder called vclib at C drive (C:\vclib).

  5. Copy the folders (SDL2-2.30.5, SDL2_mixer-2.8.0, SDL2_image-2.8.2) to C:\vclib
    • SDL Folder: SDL2-devel-2.30.5-VC\SDL2-2.30.5
    • SDL_mixer Folder: SDL2_mixer-devel-2.8.0-VC\SDL2_mixer-2.8.0
    • SDL_image Folder: SDL2_image-devel-2.8.2-VC\SDL2_image-2.8.2

2. Configure the Project in Visual Studio

  1. Make sure your default build setting is Debug x64.

  2. Go to Project Properties -> Configuration Properties -> Linker -> Input

Additional Dependencies -> Edit:

SDL2.lib
SDL2main.lib
SDL2_mixer.lib
SDL2_image.lib
  1. Go to Project Properties -> Go to Configuration Properties -> VC++ Directories

Include Directories -> Edit:

C:\vclib\SDL2_image-2.8.2\include
C:\vclib\SDL2_mixer-2.8.0\include
C:\vclib\SDL2-2.30.5\include

Library Directories -> Edit:

C:\vclib\SDL2_image-2.8.2\lib\x64
C:\vclib\SDL2_mixer-2.8.0\lib\x64
C:\vclib\SDL2-2.30.5\lib\x64

3. Setup Environmental Variables for SDL, SDL_mixer and SDL_image

  1. Go to Settings -> Search and click Edit the system environment variables -> Click Environment Variables

  2. Edit the Path under the System varables:

    C:\vclib\SDL2-2.30.5\lib\x64
C:\vclib\SDL2_mixer-2.8.0\lib\x64
C:\vclib\SDL2_image-2.8.2\lib\x64

Note: to add multiple paths add a semicolon after each path

4. Build the Program

  1. Restart Visual Studio so Visual C++ can get the updated path variable
  2. Build and run your program and it should work.

Resources: