This cannot be the case. Look at the Date/Time when the „.exe“ was changed the last time. Look at the Visual Studio output. You are either not compiling it properly, or to a wrong directory.
So I don’t know where you placed the XML file or how you compiled the program.
Regarding 2: When you compile the original TinyXML2 project, then you have a „test.exe“, and this loads the „dream.xml“ from the working directory. But it also prints parts of the „dream.xml“ without loading the file. Parts of the „dream.xml“ are contained in the program, as a string. Maybe this is what cofuses you here. You likely have not even read any of the source code of the TinyXML2 test.
Beyond that, sorry: I don’t know how I (or anybody else) could help you there.
And frankly: I don’t believe you when you say that you compared Pugixml and Rapidxml. You cannot have done this when you’re unable to build TinyXML2. But that’s probably not relevant.