[SOLVED] Fixing Eclipse CDT Error in SECONDS: Launch Failed. Binary Not Found.

Amazon When you run a C program in Eclipse C/C++ IDE, you may see an error window "Application Launcher" saying "Launch failed. Binary not found." It's frustrating because you have already installed the C compiler such as gcc/g++ compiler from equation.com or MinGW compiler from somewhere else. Your Eclipse is equipped with toolchains such as Cross GCC and MinGW GCC. So what's wrong? How can you run your C project successfully in Eclipse CDT?

If you are wondering what Eclipse CDT (C/C++ Development Tooling) is, here's the answer from the Eclipse official website:

The CDT Project provides a fully functional C and C++ Integrated Development Environment based on the Eclipse platform.

Solution

The solution is so simple you won't believe it. Simply go to Project -> Build All (or press Ctrl+B) to build your project before you run it. Once you are done, run your program again and it should run successfully.

Why Eclipse doesn't automatically build the C project before running it or print a meaningful message alluding to this fact is beyond me.

The above solution also works for the default "Hello World ANCI C Project" C project you create in Eclipse CDT. It's a simple C program that prints out !!!Hello World!!!

If the solution didn't work for you, try fixing errors in Errors section in Problems tab in the Eclipse IDE. Some errors are not real errors and they are due to Eclipse IDE not being able to resolve symbols; skip them. Fix errors that are real errors. Then Clean, Build All, and Run again.

Questions? Let me know!