title: Deploying Qt C++ Application from Visual Studio qwindows.dll error
body: <p>I've been googling for a solution to this issue and although I've found many people sharing my problem none of their solutions work for me.</p>
  
  <p>I wrote a C++ application using Qt framework using Visual Studio 2010. I built and ran the application in "Release" mode from Visual Studio without issue, but when I copy that exe from the Release folder to a new destination (pretend its a new PC) it fails to run providing this error:</p>
  
  <pre><code>---------------------------
  TestApplication
  ---------------------------
  This application failed to start because it could not find or load the Qt platform plugin "windows".
  
  Available platform plugins are: windows.
  
  Reinstalling the application may fix this problem.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Within the executable directory I have the following file structure:<br>
  ./TestApplication.exe<br>
  ./libGLESv2.dll<br>
  ./Qt5Core.dll<br>
  ./Qt5Gui.dll<br>
  ./QtWidgets.dll<br>
  ./platforms/qwindows.dll<br>
  ./qt.conf  </p>
  
  <p>All dll files were taken from the 5.0.0 build of Qt in the Qtbase folder where the libraries reside.</p>
  
  <p>The qt.conf file is:</p>
  
  <pre><code>[Paths]
  Plugins=.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Without it, the launch error is the same except it says "minimal" and "offscreen" are available platforms as well.</p>
  
  <p>For all other people experiencing this error it seemed to be solved by creating the <code>platforms</code> folder and putting in the qwindows.dll. But doing that myself doesn't change any behavior.</p>
  
  <p>Is there something I've done wrong? Perhaps my method of generating the .exe in the first place is wrong?</p>