solution to unresolved external symbol _com_issue_error _bstr_t::_bstr_t

March 16, 2006 code

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 Comments

Anonymous May 25, 2006 at 6:37 AM

Hi!
Tnx. It really helped :-)
BTW. It happens also with _variant_t
Anonymous July 18, 2006 at 10:47 AM

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

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

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

Thanks
Anonymous September 11, 2006 at 12:17 AM

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

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

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

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

EXCELLENT, thanks for the help!
(PS. You might want to turn on comment reviews to avoid the spam. :-) )
Hatch Chili Daddy November 13, 2006 at 12:53 PM

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

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 March 20, 2007 at 9:22 AM

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 September 17, 2007 at 4:22 AM

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

Thanks man, its really helpful
i was searching for a long time for the conversion..
Cheers,
Rabindra
Anonymous December 13, 2007 at 5:11 PM

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

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

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

Google did its job!
Thans a lot!
Gem April 30, 2008 at 2:42 PM

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

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

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

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

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

you + google = problem solved!!
Many thanks
Stan December 18, 2008 at 2:17 AM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks a lot :-)
Madan September 2, 2009 at 6:17 AM

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 September 17, 2009 at 6:41 AM

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

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

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 December 10, 2009 at 2:45 PM

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

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

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 March 5, 2010 at 1:17 PM

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

Thanx
sara November 23, 2010 at 2:32 AM

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

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

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 March 6, 2011 at 7:07 AM

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

Really helpful………..