title: Win32 application. HBITMAP LoadImage fails to load anything
body: <p>I'm writing a function that quickly draws an image of a menu for a game I'm making. I'm able to draw the background and text blocks just fine but I'm having trouble creating a bitmap image on the screen</p>
  
  <pre><code>bool menu::drawMenu(PAINTSTRUCT ps)
  {
  HWND hWnd = GetActiveWindow();
  HDC hdc = GetDC(hWnd), hdcMem;
  
  //Draw a new background
  
  HPEN blackPen = CreatePen(PS_SOLID, 1, RGB(0, 0, 0));
  HBRUSH blackBrush = CreateSolidBrush(RGB(0, 0, 0));
  SelectObject(hdc, blackPen);
  SelectObject(hdc, blackBrush);
  Rectangle(hdc, 0, 0, 1080, 720);
  
  //insert selection text
  
  TextOut(hdc, 30, 0, L"New Game", 8);
  TextOut(hdc, 30, 30, L"Exit Game", 9);
  
  //draw arrow sprite
  
  HBITMAP arrow = (HBITMAP)LoadImage(NULL, L"C:\\Users\\Tim\documents\\visual studio 2013\\Projects\\BoulderBisque\\BoulderBisque\\arrow.bmp", IMAGE_BITMAP, 0, 0, LR_LOADFROMFILE);
      DWORD lastError = GetLastError();
  if (arrow == NULL)
  {
      TextOut(hdc, 0, 60, L"Image Load Failed", 17);
      return false;
  }
  hdcMem = CreateCompatibleDC(hdc);
  if (hdcMem == NULL)
  {
      TextOut(hdc, 0, 90, L"Memory Creation Failed", 22);
      return false;
  }
  SelectObject(hdcMem, arrow);
  BitBlt(hdc, 0, choice * 30, 16, 16, hdcMem, 0, 0, SRCCOPY);
  
  //cleanup
  
  ReleaseDC(hWnd, hdc);
  DeleteDC(hdcMem);
  
  return true;
  }
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>As of now arrow is NULL and I get the Load Image Failed textbox.
  I am using the relative path of arrow.bmp I also tried using a full path, that didn't work either.</p>
  
  <p>You may have noticed that this function is outside the WndProc. Everything else draws fine.
  I tried running it in there too everything but the arrow.bmp loads.</p>
  
  <p>What am I doing wrong to cause arrow.bmp to be NULL? I have other methods I plan to run in similar ways so getting this function to run would really be a big help.</p>
  
  <p>EDIT* Whenever I give the full path name it still fails to load.
  Also is this not the appropriate code for SO? This is my first question...</p>
  
  <p>EDIT** The aditional '/'s haven't fixed the issue.</p>
  
  <p>EDIT*** Using GetLastError, I found the error code to be 2, ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND</p>