This particular issue is caused by specifying a dependency to a lib file that had spaces in its path. The path needs to be surrounded by quotes for the project to compile correctly.
On the Configuration Properties -> Linker -> Input tab of the project’s properties, there is an Additional Dependencies property. This issue was fixed by adding the quotes. For example, changing this property from:
C:\Program Files\sofware sdk\lib\library.lib
To:
“C:\Program Files\sofware sdk\lib\library.lib”
where I added the quotes.