Linker Tools Warning LNK4208

  • Article

incompatible PDB format in 'filename'; delete and rebuild; linking object as if no debug info

The .pdb format for the file is incompatible; delete the .pdb and rebuild.

If you have a .obj or .lib that was built with an earlier version Visual C++ and if that file has .pdb files associated with it and you link with /DEBUG (Generate Debug Info), you will get LNK4208. In this case, either do not use /DEBUG or delete and rebuild your older .pdb files.

You might see this error if you have a mismatched compiler and linker. For example, if your compiler is from the current version of Visual C++ and your linker is from a previous version.