VS 2003

Stop Console Applications From Closing Immediately

When you develop your first console application, it can be a surprise when you execute your application in debug mode and find that the console closes before you have time to see the results.

Start Without Debugging

The simplest method to avoid this problem is to start the application from Visual Studio without using debugging. This is achieved by selecting "Start Without Debugging" from the Debug menu or by pressing CTRL-F5 to start the program. When the program stops executing, you are required to press a key before the console window is removed.