Here’s a short cheat sheet summarizing an internal talk I gave a while ago about VC++ build diagnostics. These switches and tools are all documented, most are surveyed in previous posts here, and all are very useful when struck by baffling build/load errors.

To use this effectively you must first define the exact stage where the failure occurs (which isn’t always trivial), then use the listed switch/tool.

Specifically Process Monitor is useful in multiple contexts – but mostly when you suspect used file is being consumed from an erroneous location. I recommend not adding a process name filter, as multiple processes are typically involved – devenv.exe, MSBuild.exe, cl.exe, link.exe, mspdbsvr etc. For header files there’s /ShowIncludes and for dll’s there’s link /verbose or Gflags/ShowSnaps, but many other files are consumed and have potential for errors (property sheets, resources, etc.) and ProcessMonitor covers them all.

Enjoy.