How to keep the console window open in Visual C++?

Start the project with Ctrl+F5 instead of just F5.

The console window will now stay open with the Press any key to continue . . . message after the program exits.

Note that this requires the Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE) linker option, which you can enable as follows:

1. Open up your project, and go to the Solution Explorer. If you’re following along with me in K&R, your “Solution” will be ‘hello’ with 1 project under it, also ‘hello’ in bold.
2. Right click on the ‘hello” (or whatever your project name is.)
3. Choose “Properties” from the context menu.
4. Choose Configuration Properties>Linker>System.
5. For the “Subsystem” property in the right-hand pane, click the drop-down box in the right hand column.
6. Choose “Console (/SUBSYSTEM:CONSOLE)”
7. Click Apply, wait for it to finish doing whatever it does, then click OK. (If “Apply” is grayed out, choose some other subsystem option, click Apply, then go back and apply the console option. My experience is that OK by itself won’t work.)

CTRL-F5 and the subsystem hints work together; they are not separate options.

(Courtesy of DJMorreTX from http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vcprerelease/thread/21073093-516c-49d2-81c7-d960f6dc2ac6)