According to the docs:
"If you want your application to use ComCtl32.dll version 6, you must add an application manifest or compiler directive to specify that version 6 should be used if it is available."
Notice the logical OR above? So what is this mysterious compiler directive?
I've got a native Win32 C++ application that is wholly contained in a single .cpp file. There are no resource files, manifest files, etc. I'd like to keep it that way, but I would also like to use visual styles.
If you're using Visual Studio, you can add this line to your stdafx.cpp for example:
There's actually a third way with no manifests whatsoever, though it's rather hacky:
If you had kept reading, you would have found the answer: