My building platform : using msvc : 8.0 ; I have attached som attempt in compiling some boost examples. Notice I have set C:\Boost\lib in my LIB environment variable (set LIB=%LIB%;c:\Boost\lib ) log => command line | direcorty file_size.log => bjam file_size | BOOST_ROOT\libs\filesystem\example simple_ls.log => bjam file_size | BOOST_ROOT\libs\filesystem\example first.log => bjam first | BOOST_ROOT\libs\program_options\example minmax_timer.log => bjam minmax_timer | BOOST_ROOT\libs\algorithm\minmax file_size, simple_ls and first all work fine when adding the magic option link=static. bjam minmax_timer does not work both with and wothout link=static, instead minmax_ex works fine with and without link=static, that's why I have not listed it in my trouble list of course. I would appreciate any help in solving any of my troubles. Notice I have compiled boost with bjam --build-type=complete install Onestly I am a bit pessimistic. Still I hope I am missing something obvious. I can't see why link=static works so fine while without link=static all this troubles arise.