Windows C++ building from source - LINK errors

I am trying to build a Windows C++ app using the tensorflow C++ dll and lib. I have followed the scant documentation on building it. With the help of outside websites (stackoverflow, etc), I was able to get the dll, lib, and headers to compile.

I created a very simple 10 line test program. It compiles okay, but then fails in the link phase. Looks like all of the tensorflow function calls result in an unresolved link error. Searching for this on the internet shows many others have the same issue. They detailed some workaround which I tried (adding the signatures to the existing .def file, then trying to re-link it). Other workarounds detailed adding TF_EXPORT to header files and then recompiling. I did this on some symbols, recompiled, re-linked, and they still showed as unresolved.

Any ideas or help on this issue? There was a thread on github about this, but the bots eventually auto-closed the issue. I am building v2.9.0 btw.

thanks for any help.

John