error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol _WinMain@16 referenced in function ___tmainCRTStartup

Question

Thats a linker problem.

Try to change Properties -> Linker -> System -> SubSystem (in Visual Studio).

from Windows (/SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS) to Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE)

This one helped me

As the others mentioned you can change the SubSystem to Console and the error will go away.

Or if you want to keep the Windows subsystem you can just hint at what your entry point is, because you haven't defined ___tmainCRTStartup. You can do this by adding the following to Properties -> Linker -> Command line:

/ENTRY:"mainCRTStartup"

This way you get rid of the console window.

If you are having this problem and are using Qt - you need to link qtmain.lib or qtmaind.lib

Besides changing it to Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE) as others have said, you may need to change the entry point in Properties -> Linker -> Advanced -> Entry Point. Set it to mainCRTStartup.

It seems that Visual Studio might be searching for the WinMain function instead of main, if you don't specify otherwise.