C Program Written in VS2012 Works w/ Win7/8/2008R2/2012, but not 2003/XP/32bit?

Question

I have to start by saying that I am very much a programming noob. I do not understand all the compiler options or nuances of the IDE, not by a longshot. But I am trying to teach

Answer 1

The MSVC Team Blog says that when using MSBuild or DEVENV from the command-line with the v110_xp platform toolset, no other changes are necessary. This information is incorrect/incomplete. The /SUBSYSTEM linker argument and associated "Minimum Required Version" must also be set appropriately.

The MSDN documentation for /ENTRY states that, if the /SUBSYSTEM argument is not specified that the SUBSYSTEM and ENTRY POINT are determined automatically. My hunch is that when this happens, the SUBSYSTEM's "Minimum Required Version" argument is also automatically overridden.

The v110_xp toolset automatically specifies the SUBSYSTEM's MRV ("5.1" (WindowsXP)) but not the SUBSYSTEM. As such, the MRV will be overridden, for example, by the linker to "6.0". Running the application will then cause WindowsXP to show the error message stating that the application "is not a valid Win32 application."