Unable to compile .rc file

Currently I am working through "forgers-Win32-tutorials" and trying the
sample codes both in Visual C++ and separately with MinGW

I am not including the code I am using at the moment because I suspect
it may be a matter of how I cam compiling,
so I will add the code later if it seems I can't resolve through how I
compile.

In the part of the tutorial where I just create a plain window I have no
problems and get the same results when either using MinGW or Visual C++

However after creating code for establishing a window the author adds
the ability to make an icon for the .exe file, show icon on top of
window and have a couple simple drop down menus

To do this he introduces using an *.rc file and  *.h file

When I complile in Visual C++ I get the intended results no problem

However I don't get the same results using MinGW:

                         I get the icon for the .exe file ( how it shows
in my windows directories )
                         but no icon for the window generated and no
drop down menus

I don't even get any error messages

both the *.rc file and *.h file are identical copies of those used with
Visual C ++

I went to the MinGW site to find out how to compile the the .rc file....

so what I am doing is the following:

( having   #include my_resource.h in first.cpp )

*******************************
g++  -c  first.cpp

windres -o my_resource.o  my_resource.rc

g++ -o  first  first.o  my_resource.o -mwindows

******************************
I thought that maybe -mwindows would not be enough so I tried things
like adding -lming32

but that didn't make any changes

Is it just a matter of using the right windows library?....I would
assume -mwindows all windows libraries would be looked for and if I was
missing one I would have at least got an error message.

Thank you for any response

P.S. Since at this point I haven't even started using any C++
conventions, I tried the above just using gcc and a first.c file but
with the same results

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