I attempted to use the minimal verision of boost test. In order to do this I replaced occurencs of #include <boost/test/exec_monitor.hpp> with #include <boost/test/minimal.hpp> This generates a few problems. a) In the tests which use the serialization DLL, It seems that references are being made to symbols in the library. Here is the output from the link. I can't figure out why this is. test_array.cpp C:\BoostHead\boost\test\impl\execution_monitor.ipp(204) : warning C4273: 'boost::execution_monitor::execute' : inconsistent dll linkage C:\BoostHead\boost\test\impl\execution_monitor.ipp(496) : warning C4273: 'boost::execution_monitor::catch_signals' : inconsistent dll linkage C:\BoostHead\boost\test\impl\execution_monitor.ipp(624) : warning C4273: 'boost::detect_memory_leaks' : inconsistent dll linkage C:\BoostHead\boost\test\impl\execution_monitor.ipp(646) : warning C4273: 'boost::break_memory_alloc' : inconsistent dll linkage Linking to lib file: boost_serialization-vc71-mt-gd-1_34.lib Linking to lib file: boost_serialization-vc71-mt-gd-1_34.lib Linker output: Creating library c:\BoostHead\bin\boost\libs\serialization\test\test_array_binary_archive_dll.test\vc-7_1\debug\threading-multi\test_array_binary_archive_dll.lib and object c:\BoostHead\bin\boost\libs\serialization\test\test_array_binary_archive_dll.test\vc-7_1\debug\threading-multi\test_array_binary_archive_dll.exp test_array.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) public: __thiscall boost::execution_exception::execution_exception(enum boost::execution_exception::error_code,class boost::unit_test::basic_cstring<char const >)" (__imp_??0execution_exception@boost@@QAE@W4error_code@01@V?$basic_cstring@$$CBD@unit_test@1@@Z) referenced in function "void __cdecl boost::detail::report_error(enum boost::execution_exception::error_code,class boost::unit_test::basic_cstring<char const >,class boost::unit_test::basic_cstring<char const >)" (?report_error@detail@boost@@YAXW4error_code@execution_exception@2@V?$basic_cstring@$$CBD@unit_test@2@1@Z) test_array.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) public: class boost::unit_test::basic_cstring<char const > __thiscall boost::execution_exception::what(void)const " (__imp_?what@execution_exception@boost@@QBE?AV?$basic_cstring@$$CBD@unit_test@2@XZ) referenced in function $L159233 test_array.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) public: enum boost::execution_exception::error_code __thiscall boost::execution_exception::code(void)const " (__imp_?code@execution_exception@boost@@QBE?AW4error_code@12@XZ) referenced in function $L159233 test_array.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) public: __thiscall boost::execution_monitor::~execution_monitor(void)" (__imp_??1execution_monitor@boost@@QAE@XZ) referenced in function _main test_array.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol "__declspec(dllimport) public: __thiscall boost::execution_monitor::execution_monitor(void)" (__imp_??0execution_monitor@boost@@QAE@XZ) referenced in function _main c:\BoostHead\bin\boost\libs\serialization\test\test_array_binary_archive_dll.test\vc-7_1\debug\threading-multi\test_array_binary_archive_dll.exe : fatal error LNK1120: 5 unresolved externals b) At least a few "test tools" macros aren't present BOOST_CHECK_EQUAL and BOOST_CHECK_MESSAGE among themRobert Ramey