# Linking errors Building VTK with dcmtk

**URL:** https://discourse.vtk.org/t/linking-errors-building-vtk-with-dcmtk/16327
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [March 15, 2026, 10:47am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/linking-errors-building-vtk-with-dcmtk/16327 "2026-03-15T10:47:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Anand72](https://discourse.vtk.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Anand72](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/Anand72)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2026, 10:47am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/linking-errors-building-vtk-with-dcmtk/16327/1 "2026-03-15T10:47:31Z")

</div>

I am trying to build vtk using cmake on Windows 11 with following cmake options

Commandline options:

-DCMAKE\_CXX\_MP\_NUM\_PROCESSORS:STRING=“16” -DCXX\_STANDARD:STRING=“17” -DNSIS\_EXECUTABLE:FILEPATH=“NSIS\_EXECUTABLE-NOTFOUND” -DVTK\_BUILD\_TESTING:STRING=“WANT” -DDCMTK\_DIR:PATH=“C:/Work/dcmtk” -DCMAKE\_INSTALL\_PREFIX:PATH=“C:/Work/vtk” -DFETCHCONTENT\_BASE\_DIR:PATH=“C:/Work/vtksrc/build/\_deps” -DUSE\_DCMTK:BOOL=“0” -DCMAKE\_CONFIGURATION\_TYPES:STRING=“Debug;Release;MinSizeRel;RelWithDebInfo”

Cache file:

CMAKE\_CXX\_MP\_NUM\_PROCESSORS:STRING=16

CXX\_STANDARD:STRING=17

NSIS\_EXECUTABLE:FILEPATH=NSIS\_EXECUTABLE-NOTFOUND

VTK\_BUILD\_TESTING:STRING=WANT

DCMTK\_DIR:PATH=C:/Work/dcmtk

CMAKE\_INSTALL\_PREFIX:PATH=C:/Work/vtk

FETCHCONTENT\_BASE\_DIR:PATH=C:/Work/vtksrc/build/\_deps

USE\_DCMTK:BOOL=0

CMAKE\_CONFIGURATION\_TYPES:STRING=Debug;Release;MinSizeRel;RelWithDebInfo

and I get linking errors

C:\Work\vtksrc\build\ALL\_BUILD.vcxproj" (default target) (1) →  
“C:\Work\vtksrc\build\Remote\vtkDICOM\Source\DICOM.vcxproj” (default target) (188) →  
(Link target) →  
LINK : fatal error LNK1181: cannot open input file ‘sqlite3.lib’ [C:\Work\vtksrc\build\Remote\vtkDICOM\Source\DICOM.v  
cxproj]

```auto
515 Warning(s)
1 Error(s)

```

Please help

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ben.boeckel](https://discourse.vtk.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@ben.boeckel](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/ben.boeckel)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 1:18am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/linking-errors-building-vtk-with-dcmtk/16327/2 "2026-03-16T01:18:23Z")

</div>

@dgobbi

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![dgobbi](https://discourse.vtk.org/user_avatar/discourse.vtk.org/dgobbi/32/18_2.png) [@dgobbi](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/dgobbi)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/linking-errors-building-vtk-with-dcmtk/16327/3 "2026-03-16T02:27:53Z")

</div>

`-DDCMTK_DIR:PATH=“C:/Work/dcmtk”` should not be used with `-DUSE_DCMTK:BOOL=0`, since the latter is turning dcmtk off.

To avoid the link error with `sqlite3.lib`, set `USE_SQLITE:BOOL=OFF` in your cache file.