When building with msvc, the build folder will look like this. your_build_directory/ ├───bin/ ├───Debug/ │ │ └───demo_all.exe │ │ └───... ├───Release/ │ │ └───demo_all.exe │ │ └───... ├───demos_assets/ │ ├───fonts/ │ │ └───... │ └───images// └───opencv_world460.dll └───opencv_world460d.dll The executables inside Debug/ and Release/ depend on the presence of opencv_world460*.dll, opencv_world460d.dll, and demos_assets/ If you want to run then from the Release/ or Debug/ folder, you will need to manually copy those files.