Can't build Allegro 5 solution in MSVC 2012 - visual-studio-2012

Question

I am struggling for hours to build my first Allegro 5 application in Visual Studio 2012, using Windows 7 x64.
I have followed all the steps of this tutorial: http://wiki.allegro.cc/index.php?title=Windows,_Visual_Studio_2010_and_Allegro_5#Download which means that the Allegro directory is in c:/allegro/ and all the libraries are added in both the debug and release configurations.
I also changed my subsystem to Windows, so now it says "Windows (/SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS)"
1>------ Build started: Project: AllegroTesting, Configuration: Debug Win32 ------
1>main.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__al_install_system referenced in function _main
1>main.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__al_rest referenced in function _main
1>main.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__al_map_rgb referenced in function _main
1>main.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__al_create_display referenced in function _main
1>main.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__al_destroy_display referenced in function _main
1>main.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__al_flip_display referenced in function _main
1>main.obj : error LNK2019: unresolved external symbol __imp__al_clear_to_color referenced in function _main
1>c:\users\skypower\documents\visual studio 2012\Projects\AllegroTesting\Debug\AllegroTesting.exe : fatal error LNK1120: 7 unresolved externals
========== Build: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========

Answer 1

For anyone wondering, the issue was resolved for skypower in this thread on the allegro.cc forums: Problem installing allegro 5 on vs 2012
It boiled down to specifying the wrong linker input libraries when following the Visual Studio 2010 setup instructions on the relevant Allegro.cc wiki page. Make sure to type the actual version of Allegro instead of typing 5.0.x (i.e. the x should be replaced with the minor version, which is currently 8, so type the version of 5.0.8).
(some extra context if you read that original thread - the x I'm referring was previously a ? in the wiki page's setup instructions)

Answer 2

I struggled with this problem for a long time,pulled half my hair off,and then i finally tried something. I'm using Windows 8 and VS2012 and Allegro 4.2 cause I got it right using the older version.
Link to get the 4.2 binary => http://en.sourceforge.jp/projects/sfnet_alleg/downloads/allegro-bin/4.2.0/allegro-msvc6-4.2.0.zip/
Once you unpack it, there'll be 4 files => bin,include,lib and the readme file.
Copy the include and lib files in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\VC
Fire up VS and create a Win32 Project,the when prompted with Application setting,check Empty project and click OK.
Insert a source file in and paste this code =>
#include <allegro.h>
int main(void) {
allegro_init();
set_gfx_mode(GFX_SAFE, 640, 480, 0, 0);
install_keyboard();
textout_ex(screen, font, "Hello World!", 1, 1, 10, -1);
textout_ex(screen, font, "Press ESCape to quit.", 1, 12, 11, -1);
while(!key[KEY_ESC]);
allegro_exit();
return 0;
}
END_OF_MAIN()
Now right click on the project in the solution explorer->properties->Linker->Input->Additional Dependencies. Click on it reveal the drop down menu->edit and in the blank space at the top enter 'alleg.lib' ->OK->OK.
Now copy the 3 dll files in the bin folder from the unpacked Allegro 4.2 folder.
Go to where you saved your project, default is my documents->visual studio 2012->projects. go into the folder with your project name->Debug folder. here you will find the .exe file for your project. paste the dll files here.
go to VS2012. press f7 to compile your program,should be no errors. press ctrl+f5 to run.
10.you get a black window saying hello and press esc to exit. That's it! :D