I have had the same problem. In the Beta I Allegro worked, however, in Beta II it does not. I have been told that for Allegro to work in Beta II you must download the Windows Platform SDK (PSDK). You can find a link to download the PSDK on the intro page when you start up VC++.

You have to add the Libs to the compiler Link/input option
alld.lib for debug
alleg.lib for release
allp.lib for profile.

For italian Users for Allegro .h e Visual C++ 2005 express...
(the tutorial is for the English version of Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express)

L'altra sera ho perso un po di tempo, a preparare questo breve tutorial, che consente di compilare ed eseguire uno degli esempi forniti con le librerie allegro , utilizzando l'ambiente di sviluppo Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express...

capisco che il 90% delle persone che frequenta GPI non ha bisogno di questa guida, ma ho visto troppe volte, della gente abbandonare lo sviluppo con VC++ per colpa dei ripetuti errori del linker... e voglio dare a chi si trova sul punto di abbandonare,la possibilita' di vedere (finalmente) un applicazione compilata e funzionante che includa allegro.h

non mi dilungo oltre, allego il link del tutorial:

http://www.wcn.it/visual%20c++%20express%202005%20con%20allegro%20.h%20by%20Davy%20Bartoloni.htm

... ragazzi, anche se usate DEV-C++ o altri compilatori (e magari odiate Bill) , ricordate sempre che in un curriculum , la voce "Microsoft Visual C++" ci sta' sempre bene.. specialmente in realta' medio-grandi...

Ciao e Buon Lavoro a tutti!

i a new in allegro programming, i install the allegro and compile the code below, compiling was succeeded,but i had 10 warning and so my program crash when i executed it. The crash message was : "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc01500002)."

my program code is:
/* Displaying a bitmap on the screen. */
#include <allegro.h>

int main( void )
{
BITMAP *bmp; /* pointer to the bitmap */

allegro_init(); /* initialize Allegro */
install_keyboard(); /* allow Allegro to recieve keyboard input */
set_color_depth( 16 ); /* set the color depth to 16-bit */
set_gfx_mode( GFX_AUTODETECT, 640, 480, 0, 0 ); /* set graphics mode */
bmp = load_bitmap( "picture.bmp", NULL ); /* load the bitmap file */
blit( bmp, screen, 0, 0, 0, 0, bmp->w, bmp->h ); /* draw the bitmap */
readkey(); /* wait for a keypress */
destroy_bitmap( bmp ); /* free the memory allocated to bmp */
return 0;
} /* end function main */
END_OF_MAIN() /* Allegro-specific macro */

Warnings are:
------ Build started: Project: alleggro, Configuration: Debug Win32 ------
Compiling...
all.cpp
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\internal\alconfig.h(397) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned char *' of greater size
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\internal\alconfig.h(404) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned char *' of greater size
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\inline\draw.inl(421) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned char *' of greater size
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\inline\draw.inl(435) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned char *' of greater size
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\inline\draw.inl(446) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned short *' of greater size
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\inline\draw.inl(460) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned short *' of greater size
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\inline\draw.inl(471) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned short *' of greater size
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\inline\draw.inl(485) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned short *' of greater size
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\inline\draw.inl(521) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned int *' of greater size
d:\program files\vc\include\allegro\inline\draw.inl(535) : warning C4312: 'type cast' : conversion from 'unsigned int' to 'unsigned int *' of greater size
Linking...
Embedding manifest...
Build log was saved at "file://c:\Documents and Settings\garippe\My Documents\Visual Studio\Projects\directory\Debug\BuildLog.htm"
alleggro - 0 error(s), 10 warning(s)

i have a headache.. i hope your help...

Warnings have gone but still i have run time error :( : "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc01500002)."

yes that works.
thank you very much deviangel