I have some code that uses enable_shared_from_this. I was publicly deriving, i.e. (and this works) class Request : public boost::enable_shared_from_this<Request> { }; I wanted to change my code around so that I wrapped the shared_from_this function inside the class, so that I could check at runtime whether certain conditions hold, i.e. class Request : private boost::enable_shared_from_this<Request> { public: boost::shared_ptr<Request> get_ptr () { if (conditions_are_good) return shared_from this (); else throw std::logic_error ("Bad get"); }; }; This won't compile (visual studio 2008). 1>Compiling... 1>Request.cpp 1>c:\boost\boost_1_40_0\boost\smart_ptr\enable_shared_from_this.hpp(50) : error C2243: 'type cast' : conversion from 'Request *' to 'boost::enable_shared_from_this<T> *const ' exists, but is inaccessible 1> with 1> [ 1> T=Request 1> ] 1> c:\boost\boost_1_40_0\boost\smart_ptr\enable_shared_from_this.hpp(48) : while compiling class template member function 'boost::shared_ptr<T> boost::enable_shared_from_this<T>::shared_from_this(void)' 1> with 1> [ 1> T=Request 1> ] 1> c:\src\cpp\trunk\request_lib\request.h(48) : see reference to class template instantiation 'boost::enable_shared_from_this<T>' being compiled 1> with 1> [ 1> T=Request 1> ] Can I get this to work?