Preventing console window from closing on Visual Studio C/C++ Console application

Starting from Visual Studio 2017 (15.9.4) there is an option:

Tools->Options->Debugging->Automatically close the console

The corresponding fragment from the Visual Studio documentation:

Automatically close the console when debugging stops:

Tells Visual Studio to close the console at the end of a debugging session.

just put as your last line of code:

system("pause");

A somewhat better solution:

atexit([] { system("PAUSE"); });

at the beginning of your program.

Pros:

• can use std::exit()
• can have multiple returns from main
• you can run your program under the debugger
• IDE independent (+ OS independent if you use the cin.sync(); cin.ignore(); trick instead of system("pause");)

Cons:

• have to modify code
• won't pause on std::terminate()
• will still happen in your program outside of the IDE/debugger session; you can prevent this under Windows using:

extern "C" int __stdcall IsDebuggerPresent(void);
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    if (IsDebuggerPresent())
        atexit([] {system("PAUSE"); });
    ...
}

You can also use this option

#include <conio.h> 
/* run this program using the console pauser or add your own getch, system("pause") or input loop */
int main() {
   .
   .
   .
   getch(); 

   return 0;
}

In my case, i experienced this when i created an Empty C++ project on VS 2017 community edition. You will need to set the Subsystem to "Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE)" under Configuration Properties.

1. Go to "View" then select "Property Manager"
2. Right click on the project/solution and select "Property". This opens a Test property page
3. Navigate to the linker then select "System"
4. Click on "SubSystem" and a drop down appears
5. Choose "Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE)"
6. Apply and save
7. The next time you run your code with "CTRL +F5", you should see the output.

Since running it from VS attaches the VS debugger, you can check for an attached debugger:

if (Debugger.IsAttached)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Debugger is attached. Press any key to exit.");
    Console.ReadKey();
}

I guess the only caveat is that it'll still pause if you attach any other debugger, but that may even be a wanted behavior.

Sometimes a simple hack that doesnt alter your setup or code can be:

Set a breakpoint with F9, then execute Debug with F5.

Currently there is no way to do this with apps running in WSL2. However there are two work-arounds:

1. The debug window retains the contents of the WSL shell window that closed.

2. The window remains open if your application returns a non-zero return code, so you could return non-zero in debug builds for example.

It should be added that things have changed since then. On Windows 11 (probably 10, I can't check any more) the new Terminal app that now houses the various console, PowerShell and other sessions has its own settings regarding closing. Look for it in Settings > Defaults > Advanced > Profile termination behavior.

If it's set to close when a program exits with zero, then it will close, even if VS is told otherwise.

Go to Setting>Debug>Un-check close on end.