How to make Visual Studio copy a DLL file to the output directory?

Question

I have a Visual Studio C++ project that relies on an external DLL file. How can I make Visual Studio copy this DLL file automatically into the output directory (debug/release) when I build the project?

Answer 1

Use a post-build action in your project, and add the commands to copy the offending DLL. The post-build action are written as a batch script.

The output directory can be referenced as $(OutDir). The project directory is available as $(ProjDir). Try to use relative pathes where applicable, so that you can copy or move your project folder without breaking the post-build action.