Linker options
LINK.exe links Common Object File Format (COFF) object files and libraries to create an executable (EXE) file or a dynamic-link library (DLL).
The following table lists options for LINK.exe. For more information about LINK, see:
On the command line, linker options aren't case-sensitive; for example, /base and /BASE mean the same thing. For details on how to specify each option on the command line or in Visual Studio, see the documentation for that option.
You can use the comment pragma to specify some linker options.
Linker options listed alphabetically
| Option | Purpose |
|---|---|
@ |
Specifies a response file. |
/ALIGN |
Specifies the alignment of each section. |
/ALLOWBIND |
Specifies that a DLL can't be bound. |
/ALLOWISOLATION |
Specifies behavior for manifest lookup. |
/APPCONTAINER |
Specifies whether the app must run within an appcontainer process environment. |
/ARM64XFUNCTIONPADMINX64 |
Specifies the minimum number of bytes of padding between x64 functions in ARM64X images.17.8 |
/ASSEMBLYDEBUG |
Adds the DebuggableAttribute to a managed image. |
/ASSEMBLYLINKRESOURCE |
Creates a link to a managed resource. |
/ASSEMBLYMODULE |
Specifies that a Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) module should be imported into the assembly. |
/ASSEMBLYRESOURCE |
Embeds a managed resource file in an assembly. |
/BASE |
Sets a base address for the program. |
/CETCOMPAT |
Marks the binary as CET Shadow Stack compatible. |
/CGTHREADS |
Sets number of cl.exe threads to use for optimization and code generation when link-time code generation is specified. |
/CLRIMAGETYPE |
Sets the type (IJW, pure, or safe) of a CLR image. |
/CLRSUPPORTLASTERROR |
Preserves the last error code of functions that are called through the P/Invoke mechanism. |
/CLRTHREADATTRIBUTE |
Specifies the threading attribute to apply to the entry point of your CLR program. |
/CLRUNMANAGEDCODECHECK |
Specifies whether the linker applies the SuppressUnmanagedCodeSecurity attribute to linker-generated P/Invoke stubs that call from managed code into native DLLs. |
/DEBUG |
Creates debugging information. |
/DEBUGTYPE |
Specifies which data to include in debugging information. |
/DEF |
Passes a module-definition (.def) file to the linker. |
/DEFAULTLIB |
Searches the specified library when external references are resolved. |
/DELAY |
Controls the delayed loading of DLLs. |
/DELAYLOAD |
Causes the delayed loading of the specified DLL. |
/DELAYSIGN |
Partially signs an assembly. |
/DEPENDENTLOADFLAG |
Sets default flags on dependent DLL loads. |
/DLL |
Builds a DLL. |
/DRIVER |
Creates a kernel mode driver. |
/DYNAMICBASE |
Specifies whether to generate an executable image that's rebased at load time by using the address space layout randomization (ASLR) feature. |
/ENTRY |
Sets the starting address. |
/ERRORREPORT |
Deprecated. Error reporting is controlled by Windows Error Reporting (WER) settings. |
/EXPORT |
Exports a function. |
/FILEALIGN |
Aligns sections within the output file on multiples of a specified value. |
/FIXED |
Creates a program that can be loaded only at its preferred base address. |
/FORCE |
Forces a link to complete even with unresolved symbols or symbols defined more than once. |
/FUNCTIONPADMIN |
Creates an image that can be hot patched. |
/GENPROFILE, /FASTGENPROFILE |
Both of these options specify generation of a .pgd file by the linker to support profile-guided optimization (PGO). /GENPROFILE and /FASTGENPROFILE use different default parameters. |
/GUARD |
Enables Control Flow Guard protection. |
/HEAP |
Sets the size of the heap, in bytes. |
/HIGHENTROPYVA |
Specifies support for high-entropy 64-bit address space layout randomization (ASLR). |
/IDLOUT |
Specifies the name of the .idl file and other MIDL output files. |
/IGNORE |
Suppresses output of specified linker warnings. |
/IGNOREIDL |
Prevents the processing of attribute information into an .idl file. |
/ILK |
Overrides the default incremental database file name. |
/IMPLIB |
Overrides the default import library name. |
/INCLUDE |
Forces symbol references. |
/INCREMENTAL |
Controls incremental linking. |
/INFERASANLIBS |
Uses inferred sanitizer libraries. |
/INTEGRITYCHECK |
Specifies that the module requires a signature check at load time. |
/KERNEL |
Create a kernel mode binary. |
/KEYCONTAINER |
Specifies a key container to sign an assembly. |
/KEYFILE |
Specifies a key or key pair to sign an assembly. |
/LARGEADDRESSAWARE |
Tells the compiler that the application supports addresses larger than 2 gigabytes |
/LIBPATH |
Specifies a path to search before the environmental library path. |
/LINKREPRO |
Specifies a path to generate link repro artifacts in. |
/LINKREPROFULLPATHRSP |
Generates a response file containing the absolute paths to all the files that the linker took as input. |
/LINKREPROTARGET |
Generates a link repro only when producing the specified target.16.1 |
/LTCG |
Specifies link-time code generation. |
/MACHINE |
Specifies the target platform. |
/MANIFEST |
Creates a side-by-side manifest file and optionally embeds it in the binary. |
/MANIFESTDEPENDENCY |
Specifies a <dependentAssembly> section in the manifest file. |
/MANIFESTFILE |
Changes the default name of the manifest file. |
/MANIFESTINPUT |
Specifies a manifest input file for the linker to process and embed in the binary. You can use this option multiple times to specify more than one manifest input file. |
/MANIFESTUAC |
Specifies whether User Account Control (UAC) information is embedded in the program manifest. |
/MAP |
Creates a mapfile. |
/MAPINFO |
Includes the specified information in the mapfile. |
/MERGE |
Combines sections. |
/MIDL |
Specifies MIDL command-line options. |
/NATVIS |
Adds debugger visualizers from a Natvis file to the program database (PDB). |
/NOASSEMBLY |
Suppresses the creation of a .NET Framework assembly. |
/NODEFAULTLIB |
Ignores all (or the specified) default libraries when external references are resolved. |
/NOENTRY |
Creates a resource-only DLL. |
/NOFUNCTIONPADSECTION |
Disables function padding for functions in the specified section.17.8 |
/NOLOGO |
Suppresses the startup banner. |
/NXCOMPAT |
Marks an executable as verified to be compatible with the Windows Data Execution Prevention feature. |
/OPT |
Controls LINK optimizations. |
/ORDER |
Places COMDATs into the image in a predetermined order. |
/OUT |
Specifies the output file name. |
/PDB |
Creates a PDB file. |
/PDBALTPATH |
Uses an alternate location to save a PDB file. |
/PDBSTRIPPED |
Creates a PDB file that has no private symbols. |
/PGD |
Specifies a .pgd file for profile-guided optimizations. |
/POGOSAFEMODE |
Obsolete Creates a thread-safe PGO instrumented build. |
/PROFILE |
Produces an output file that can be used with the Performance Tools profiler. |
/RELEASE |
Sets the Checksum in the .exe header. |
/SAFESEH |
Specifies that the image will contain a table of safe exception handlers. |
/SECTION |
Overrides the attributes of a section. |
/SOURCELINK |
Specifies a SourceLink file to add to the PDB. |
/STACK |
Sets the size of the stack in bytes. |
/STUB |
Attaches an MS-DOS stub program to a Win32 program. |
/SUBSYSTEM |
Tells the operating system how to run the .exe file. |
/SWAPRUN |
Tells the operating system to copy the linker output to a swap file before it's run. |
/TIME |
Output linker pass timing information. |
/TLBID |
Specifies the resource ID of the linker-generated type library. |
/TLBOUT |
Specifies the name of the .tlb file and other MIDL output files. |
/TSAWARE |
Creates an application that is designed specifically to run under Terminal Server. |
/USEPROFILE |
Uses profile-guided optimization training data to create an optimized image. |
/VERBOSE |
Prints linker progress messages. |
/VERSION |
Assigns a version number. |
/WHOLEARCHIVE |
Includes every object file from specified static libraries. |
/WINMD |
Enables generation of a Windows Runtime Metadata file. |
/WINMDFILE |
Specifies the file name for the Windows Runtime Metadata (winmd) output file that's generated by the /WINMD linker option. |
/WINMDKEYFILE |
Specifies a key or key pair to sign a Windows Runtime Metadata file. |
/WINMDKEYCONTAINER |
Specifies a key container to sign a Windows Metadata file. |
/WINMDDELAYSIGN |
Partially signs a Windows Runtime Metadata (.winmd) file by placing the public key in the winmd file. |
/WX |
Treats linker warnings as errors. |
16.1 This option is available starting in Visual Studio 2019 version 16.1.
17.8 This option is available starting in Visual Studio 2022 version 17.8.