When linking statically against Boost.Filesystem the (msvc) link step fails if <boost/filesystem.hpp> was included by one of the source files. Everything's works if - compiling with GCC, or - none of the source files includes boost/filesystem.hpp. The link settings are <threading>multi <link>static <runtime-link>static Here are the symptoms: boost_filesystem-vc80-mt-sd-1_34.lib is built, but linking fails because ... cannot open file 'libboost_filesystem-vc80-mt-sgd-1_34.lib' . Adding <runtime-debugging>off to the link settings changes error message to ... cannot open file 'libboost_filesystem-vc80-mt-s-1_34.lib' I'm using Boost.Build V2. There is an example project that shows the problem attached to this post (note the path to Boost in 'project-root.jam' needs manual adjustment). I hope the report was of any help. Regards, Tobias