How to avoid precompiled headers

I am trying to compile a simple VS program in C++ as an assignment for class. We only ever include <iostream> and I keep getting this error:

1>Assignment.cpp(15): fatal error C1010: unexpected end of file while looking for precompiled header. Did you forget to add '#include "StdAfx.h"' to your source?

My program is literally this small...

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    unsigned int day = 30;

    cout << "My Name is John Doe" << endl;
    cout << "My Major is CS" << endl;
    cout << "I was born on day " << day << endl;
    return 0;
}

I just installed Visual Studio Express 2010. Really I would love to start an empty project instead of installing with all these files predefined, I think it would make it a lot easier but I never get that option when creating a project. Anybody have any suggestions?

Solution 1:

You can always disable the use of pre-compiled headers in the project settings.

Instructions for VS 2010 (should be similar for other versions of VS):

Select your project, use the "Project -> Properties" menu and go to the "Configuration Properties -> C/C++ -> Precompiled Headers" section, then change the "Precompiled Header" setting to "Not Using Precompiled Headers" option.

If you are only trying to setup a minimal Visual Studio project for simple C++ command-line programs (such as those developed in introductory C++ programming classes), you can create an empty C++ project.

Solution 2:

You can create an empty project by selecting the "Empty Project" from the "General" group of Visual C++ projects (maybe that project template isn't included in Express?).

To fix the problem in the project you already have, open the project properties and navigate to:

Configuration Properties | C/C++ | Precompiled Headers

And choose "Not using Precompiled Headers" for the "Precompiled Header" option.