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I am developing a VB.NET (4.5 framework) solution in Visual Studio 2015, Win10 OS, and have been able to run the builds uninhibited for several months, but now I am receiving the following error upon starting the build:
vbc : error BC2012: can't open
'C:\MyProject\ProjR5\ProjR5\obj\Debug\ProjR5.exe' for writing: Access
to the path 'C:\MyProj\ProjR5\ProjR5\obj\Debug\GenTagR5.exe' is
denied.
At first, VS2015 would give me the option to run the last successful build, but even that is no longer an option. After exhaustive internet searches on this problem, none of the dozen or so given solutions are solving my issue.
Here is what I have tried in order to resolve the error so far:
Ran sfc /scannow (elevated prompt)
Using ProcessExplorer, find handle or DLL substring that included my project
Made sure there were no hanging procs (including procs with my project name, devenv.exe, [project].exe, [myproject].vhost.exe, etc.)
Restarted VS2015
Restarted VS2015, running "as Administrator"
Restarted Computer
Full Shutdown of computer
Complete Rebuild of Solution
Build->Clean Solution
Build->Clean Solution, then Build->Build Solution
Build->Rebuild Solution
Uninstalled and Reinstalled VS2015
Disabled all indexing
Removed "Read Only" attribute from entire project folder and files within
Checked startup scripts for like- or identical processes
Disabled all AV apps
Disabled all antispyware apps
Disabled all firewalls
Verified that Application Experience (services.msc) wasn't disabled (I'm using
Win10 ... it isn't even in the list of services)
Set Tools->Options->Projects and Solutions->Build and Run->Max. parallel
builds to 1
Rerun aspnet_regiis.exe (under .NET\Framework)
Checked Local Security Policies and verified account was listed under
"Impersonate a client after authentication"
Removed \bin and \obj folders
Put \bin and \obj back when removing them didn't help
Removed \bin and \obj folders, then Rebuilt
None of these have worked. Any suggestions?
The problem ended up being Samsung Magician's Rapid Mode losing data during its write-caching phase to my solid state drive. I turned off Rapid Mode, and now the project builds without any problems.
Sorry for came too late, but i had this problem and i wanted to show how i fixed for the next devs who need a solution:
It's quite simple, just change your proyect assembly name:1) On your solution explorer: Right click on your proyect.
2) Properties>> aplication>> assembly name>> change it.
3) Compile, run to test it.
4) Change the name again if u wanted the original name.
Adding a description:
Changin the assembly name
New 2 programing in VS but i had same problem of Access or Write exe file ON BUILD.
Problem came out of nowhere. I didn't use or make changes 2 exe file in months,
made exe file, used it now and then and forgot about it....
Then after few months i wanted 2 start exe but no icon on desktop ??? ....tried everything, lost 3 days of searching inside code for error in VS and then called Google....
I read last comment ABOVE which mentioned Bitdefender, opened it and found BitD did block and isolate exe files ..... so i tried exluding files and folders which made problems inside BitD but no help....
So i went back 2 VS.
Within debug i got some X86 processor error which didnt make problem to build but it was warning (free component name in error description helped me ), - errors you can ignore but they are here on build ....
So i made last move before starting it all over again. Removed COMPONENT from application, deleted it on PC ...started VS from start .. and ALL was OK !!!
So in my case it was all about FREE component i used in app inside VS .... Bitdefender found some add / virus in it and blocked build progress.
BitD deleted or blocked exe file in start....
Hope this help anyone with similar problem !
The cause of this error for me was that Team Foundation Server had pulled in a bunch of files to my work space as Read-only. Not sure why it pulled them down from the server with read-only checked, but all I had to do was uncheck it.
Ok. Create a new solution and add its directories to the exception list and copy all your work, except for the '.vbproj' and except for the '.csproj' and the directory files to the directory of the directory of the new solution. I have tried that and it works, due that I have Bitdefender, it will be the only way to sort that issue. After doing so, try to build the app again. If it does not work, then I am definitely out of ideas.
I installed VS2013 (v12.0.21005.1) and added ReSharper 8 (v8.0.2000.2660) a day or two ago. That day it was fine. Now I'm lucky if I can get it to open one solution in a whole day. It opens OK by itself, but when I try and open a solution from within - via the menu - it hangs, badly. If I right-click a solution in Windows Explorer and 'open with VS 2013', it opens then hangs, in exactly the same way. Every now and again, for hours, I get a little notice that it's busy with something.
Anyone know what could be wrong, before I endure a reinstall that doesn't fix the problem?
Sometimes it's enough to simply delete the ".v12.suo" file and try to open the solution again. Helped me many times when VS2013 was freezing on loading a project.
Deleting all ".suo" files worked for me. There were several copies due to opening the solution in multiple versions of Visual Studio.
Edit:
Possible path could be:
PathToSolution\.vs\ProjectName\v14\
.vs may be a hidden folder.
.suo is filename.
Basically it could be anything, but you can try a few things:
Turning it off and on again.
Clear the ReSharper cache, it's in %LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\ReSharper\<CurrentVersion>\SolutionCaches, where you should find a folder matching the solution you are trying to open. Just close all instances of VS2013, delete the folder and try again.
turn off ReSharper: Tools > Options > ReSharper > General > Suspend
uninstall ReSharper completely and see if problems persists.
Repair Visual Studio through Programs and Features.
I found the following to be the better approach to debugging VS based on MS Connect instructions
Please help to confirm if your captured dump file is a 32-bit dump file. If it is a 64-bit dump file, please use the following step to capture a new dump file.
Start Visual Studio.
Start another instance of VS.
In the second instance click Tools | Attach to Process...
In the list of processes locate devenv.exe.
Click Select... and explicitly choose 'Native' and 'Managed' code.
Click OK and OK to close Select dialog and Attach to Process dialog.
Go back to the first instance of VS and repro the hang.
Upon the hang, control should go to the second instance of VS. If not please go back to the second instance of VS manually, and hit "Break All".
In the second instance click Debug | Save Dump As Minidump with heap.
If you are running the VB profile you will not see the Save Dump As menu item. To add this menu item:
Select Tools -> Customize
Select the Commands tab
Select Debug from the Menu bar dropdown
Click Add Command...
Select Debug from the Categories list.
Find the Save Dump As entry in the Commands window.
Click OK (the Save Dump As... command is added to the top of the Debug menu).
Click Close
You can get detailed steps about how to get the dump file and call stack at http://blogs.msdn.com/debugger/archive/2009/12/30/what-is-a-dump-and-how-do-i-create-one.aspx
If you find the problem is with Resharper Addin you can then report the issue via - http://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issues/RSRP
Suspending Resharper Worked for me.
Goto
Tools -> Options -> ReSharper -> General -> Suspend Now
Now your solution will load very fast.
After your solution fully loaded, you can change the Resharper settings to Resume Now.
Are you using any node modules in your project? Or can you identify that it is a ReSharper specific issue?
If you've got NPM modules (eg. for Grunt), mark your 'node_modules' folder as 'hidden' (no need to make child folders hidden though), and try again.
Visual Studio was hanging on open for me, turned out it was trying to scan deeply nested node modules with file paths longer than the Windows maximum (260 characters), and this was preventing me from opening the solution in VS, but marking the folder as hidden solved the problem.
I had this issue recently as well, and found that disconnecting my computer from the internet when loading the project fixed it. With this, I managed to cut loading times from several hours down to seconds. Since my network cable is not particularly accessible, I simply disabled my network adapter before loading the project (in Control Panel).
This soon became frustrating, however, and I recently looked into the problem again. It seems that logging on to my Microsoft account in Visual Studio ultimately fixed the problem, and I now have no more issues loading projects.
This may work for you as well (if you haven't yet fixed it - but since there is no accepted answer here, I assume that the problem is persisting), so I suggest that you at least try disconnecting from the internet, even if you would rather not enter your Microsoft credentials.
I went into the %LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\ReSharper\
and opened all the directories looking for the SolutionCaches, and emptied all of them. Problem solved. The application was quite large, so this helped.
Check for Windows updates
I had this problem too. Furthermore, I couldn't open my Windows firewall settings (trying to block VS's internet connection).
When opening update settings (Windows 8), I saw there was a pending update ("found today"), so I rebooted my computer, letting Windows update. After that, VS and the firewall worked fine again.
Check your hardware
I've had the problem a second time; even Windows 8's update page would keep loading forever. It was an issue with my (non-OS) hard drive: https://superuser.com/questions/756261/various-parts-of-windows-8-and-visual-studio-2013-get-blocked-by-possibly-comm?noredirect=1#comment978074_756261
I get this issue now and again - VS 2013 Update 2, Win 8.1, IE 11.
Try this - Open task manger, kill the VS app hanging, and then close any IE sessions that are running in the Background Process list - there may be one or more hanging around.
Restart VS
Seems to clear it for me, without a reboot.
The problem I had was the Perforce connection.
When opening the solution, it would ask if I wanted it to connect to Perforce. Allowing it to try would make it hang and allocate 1.5 GB of RAM.
Not allowing the P4 connection let it load properly (allocating 1 GB RAM). Then I could tell it to connect to P4 after, and it is now fine.
For me , whether computer crashes with power outage, or sometimes with mandatory reboots in the middle of the night. What does WORK for me
DELETE ALL FILES IN THIS DIRECTORY:
C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebsiteCache\
For anyone still referring this helped me:
I had to always delete .vs12.suo file to load the project.
I came across this thread from Microsoft and following that I created registry entry which fixed my issue with Solution load.
https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/860685/visual-studio-hangs-after-10s-when-loading-solution-corrupt-suo
I had similar issue, when i checked the solution file it was created by VS.Net 2012. To resolve the issue, I created dummy solution file and reloaded the projects from vs.net 2012.
Also observed when nuget package update got screwed up, while you reload the solution, Visual Studio might get hang.
The Visual Studio might go hang, when there was a problem in loading the nuget packages.
In my case, VS 2013 Professional was hanging on every startup, even without opening a solution because the license was no longer valid.
Last item in the log file:
<entry>
<record>367</record>
<time>2015/07/13 20:11:05.051</time>
<type>Information</type>
<source>UserConnection</source>
<description>myemailaddrs#gmail.com signed in for IDE user</description>
</entry>
And on the msdn.microsoft.com subscription page: "Your subscription is no longer active, contact your administrator."
I had to get an updated subscription from my employer.
Deleting Test Results from my TestResults folder actually did the trick for me. Just another thing to try.
VS2012 hangs on me e.g. when opening a csproj file on a network share (in fact on a share that was on the VirtualBox host, connected as a smb share using a VirtualBox feature).
Copying the project over to a local drive fixed it for me. Not sure if assigning a drive letter would do the trick.
Also not sure why it does not work via network share, if it is a VS limitation or perhaps some plugin (I use resharper, of course).
For me this appears to have something to do with the project having the MVC 4 project type guid (E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47). Removing this guid from the .csproj resolved the hanging for me. (An additional wiping of the .vs folder was required after removing the guid.)
I just removed "packages" folder from root of solution and it helped for me (Visual Studio Express 2015)
Sorry for having to create a new post instead of commenting on the selected answer .. I do not have enough rep to comment at this time.
My issue was was temporarily resolved by the "...delete the .suo file ..." solution, and as other folks pointed out, I had to delete the file every single time.
Since it (apparently) is impossible to stop the creation of the file I started to dig a little more into what the file did. In addition to saving user settings, I believe it is also saving session settings, like which files you have open when VS is closed. I suspected that my project is attempting to open a file that no longer exists and that is what is causing the hang. What fixed things on my end was to delete the .suo, open VS, open a file within my solution, build and close the solution. After doing this I have had no hangs.
tl:dr
In my case, a user setting file(.suo) was attempting to open a file in my solution that no longer existed. I resolved the issue by performing the following steps.
Delete the .suo file (for me this was in /[projectfolder]/.vs/[projectname]/v14
Open Visual Studio
Open your project
Open a file (I simply opened a random .cs file)
Build and save your solution (Simply saving may do the trick, I built by habit)
Close Visual Studio
Hope this helps someone ... we spent way too many hours on this issue :)
Lots of suggestions here and elsewhere but the only thing that permanently worked for me had to do with the start-up project I'd set. This is what I did:
Delete the .suo file as suggested elsewhere.
Start VS and open the solution. All should be well at this point.
Leave the start-up project as-is, even if it's not what you want.
Save the solution. (Possibly do as someone else suggests and open a file, clean, build/re-build, etc, but I didn't have to do any of that.)
Close the solution and exit VS.
Re-start VS and open the solution.
Change the start-up project to whatever it should be
Save the solution. (Possibly again do the open file, clean, build/re-build, etc.)
Close the solution and exit VS.
Restart VS and re-open the solution and all should be well.
This might or might not work for you but I'd tried everything I could find - registry changes, debugging VS from a second VS session, you name it - but nothing else worked for more than a single start/open.
Try to uninstall extensions with "Control Panel" or disable any add-in in [Tools]=>[Add-in Manager] then try to reopen the solution.
My problem was fixed by uninstall "Visual Localizer".
In my case the Fusion log has been enabled. Log files has been growing for months as I forgot to turn it off after investigation. This way the antivirus software started to check these big log files several times during opening the solution, and "Preparing solution..." message is visible for long-long time. When I noticed this, I turned off the fusion log, and problem solved. Solution loads in 10 seconds instead of 20 minutes.
I've had this issue multiple times, in pretty much all versions of VS. The one solution that seems to work most of the times is to delete the .vs folder located in the solution folder. Sometimes it's enough to delete the .sou file located in .vs///
The folder is hidden by the way, so you will have to enable "Show hidden files and folders"
For me the solution was to disable source control (Set plugin to None in Tools->Source Countrol). I think it was trying to sync some huge Git repo for some reason (have a couple of massive repos, but not in the tree I was trying to open).
I have fixed the issue by uninstalling these two plugins:
Productivity Power Tool
Web Essentials
I restored a previous version of the .vbproj file and it solved it.
I don't know what was in the newer version but the problem was something inside the .bvproj file itself.
I installed a retail version of Windows 8 Pro. I downloaded and installed Visual Studio Express 2012. I asked for and received a developers certificate. Then I tried to create a hello world app.
From there I get a "Unable to Activate Windows Store App" message box when I try to debug the app. Most commentary on the web says delete build directories. This didn't work for me
Does anyone have a solution for how to fix this and debug my app?
This happened to me once too, but the deleting build directories advice fixed it. Specifically, you just need to delete the bin\Debug and bld\Debug folders in your projects. Their contents will be regenerated by Visual Studio when you rebuild. I assume that this is only one project since it's a Hello World app; otherwise I would ask if you deleted build directories from all projects in your solution.
You can also try running "Clean Solution" from the BUILD menu in Visual Studio.
I'm sorry...it's horrible if this is happening on a clean install as you describe.
I ran into the same issue, and tried rebuilding, cleaning, deleting temp files, rebooting the computer, etc... and nothing helped.
Then finally I made a release build then went back to debug. And now it works.
I have no idea what happened, nor if that really helped, but it's worth a try.
For me a RESTART of pc solved this error message.
For me the problem was that I created the app on a TrueCrypt mounted virtual drive and when I moved the project files to a normal drive then everything worked just fine. Weird.
I was getting the exact same error. In my case the culprit was a NuGet package. It had added an app.config file to the project and it was confusing VS. I removed the app.config file and it solved my issue.
I got the solution at Iris Classon's site.
This can be solved by Uninstalling the app from the start screen then again building the app from Visual Studio.
I had a similar problem, and the cause was creating the project on a USB thumb drive. Creating a project on a normal hard drive volume works.
this can happen when the application signing key (.pfx file) is missing.
Try the following:
Open the Package.appxmanifest file in Visual Studio
Go to the register "Packaging"
Select [Choose Certificate…]
Select the test certificate using [Configure Certificate…] [From File…], or create a new one using [Configure Certificate…] [Test Certificate…]
When using a test certificate, ensure that it is in the .gitignore file. There should be an entry like !**\*_TemporaryKey.pfx to include the key in Git.
Note: The certificate for release build should only be available to the build server and not included in Git.
Rebuild the project
This has happened to me in the past and I have always found that deleting the build directories resolves it.
However this time this is not working for me.
I have tried
- Rebooting
- Deleting build directories
- Running Build | Clean Solution in VS
- Renewing Developer Account
The only thing that will work for me is changing my Package name under the Package.appxmanifest
However I am not overly happy with this as a solution. I will keep investigating.
The issue might be caused because NuGet will try to add an app.config with binding redirects to Windows Store apps if it thinks it is needed. However, Windows Store apps don’t need app.config, and will actually fail to start with a very confusing error message if it is present.
And the solution in this case would be to Remove the App.config
This error generally comes when you try to deploy in debug mode.
I would suggest, deploy the app first in release mode and then try in debug mode.
This worked for me.
Making a new certificate works for me. For this, go to Package.manifest->Packaging, and follow the Choose certificate.... Click on Configure certificate and select Create test certificate. Give it a name and press OK.
Increasing the revision number of the package worked for me
Tried so many of the above fixes. Nothing worked (deleting bin, obj dirs, editing the manifest, editing the registry, changing package name, etc, etc.) My Avast antivirus software was running and so I uninstalled it completely. That was it. App now runs fine.
This sort of problems are common with Windows 8 Visual Studio. Such errors encounters when your developer license of Visual Studio has expired so you may want to renew or get a new developer license here's how you get that. How to get a developer license in Windows 8
And similar problem may also encounter with E_Fail issues here's how to solve Unable to activate Windows Store app E_Fail Issue
For me, the fix was a combination of two of these answers -
Renew the developer license (How to get a developer license in Windows 8)
And deleting the build directories (though I deleted more then the screenshot depicted) Delete the Build directories
NuGet will try to add an app.config with binding redirects to Windows Store apps if it thinks it is needed. However, Windows Store apps don’t need app.config, and will actually fail to start with a very confusing error message if it is present.
Solution:
Remove the App.config
and build again
For those who get a similar error but who are searching for a solution while debugging an IOT background app on a local machine specifically - you can find it here.
Using the search term "unable to activate windows store app the activation request failed with error" brought me here.
Because of Two things i resolved this issue.
Basically, we just need to delete the bin\Debug and bld\Debug folders in our projects. Those contents will be regenerated by Visual Studio when you rebuild project.
Just Restart the Visual Studio. And Clean Build and Rebuild the solution and RUN it.
Hope this helps.,
Playing with this issue for 3 days, tried every suggestions, nothing works. Until now!!!
The solution was this for me:
renew developer licence
build and deploy solution in Release mode (after this step it still not worked, but VS installed some packages in rpi)
start VS remote debugger with default account (http://:8080/#Debug%20settings)
configure remote device with Universal authentication mode (VS2017 -> Project settings -> debug -> target device: remote machine, authentication mode: Universal (unencrypted protocol))
...and now I can sleep.
Hope it helps somebody.
This gift was courtesy of Microsoft's automatic updates for VS2015 which was one of the 2 culprits:
KB3022398
KB3165756
It also broke SourceTree and other apps that draw the GUI - making an outline of the app but not drawing the contents.
For me changing the Package Name in Package.appxmanifest fixed the problem
In my case, the C# UWP app had a native library which failed in the application startup code, and called exit(1). The symptoms were identical to those in the question, though. Visual Studio would throw a message:
Unable to activate Windows Store app '88888888-6666-5555-4444-111111111111_abcdefgh!App'. The Acme.exe process started, but the activation request failed with error 'Operation not supported. Unknown error: 0x80040905'.
In addition, there was a message in the UWP app Windows log under Microsoft\Windows\Apps\Microsoft-Windows-TWinUI/Operational: event ID 5961, message:
Activation for 88888888-6666-5555-4444-111111111111_abcdefgh!App failed. Error code: Unknown HResult Error code: 0x80040905. Activation phase: COM App activation
Internally, the C# part would try to construct a native class instance from the App constructor, the native class constructor would encounter an unrecoverable error and bail. From the UWP subsystem standpoint, and from the debugger standpoint, though, this looked as something distinct from the mere programmatic exit. I'll leave this answer here, 'cause I've spent some time chasing various UWP failure scenarios instead of running under a native debugger.
I've replaced the exit() call with throw ref new Exception(E_INVALIDARG). At least this way the error manifests in the managed debugger, and the message is descriptive.
I've been having this problem a lot with a UWP Windows 10 app on Visual Studio 2019...for me the reliable workaround is to bump the Build number in the Package.appxmanifest file (Packaging tab). It's a huge pain...really hope Microsoft will sort this out soon
Any existing error in the code can also cause this issue. Make sure your previous version of the code is working fine. Compare the difference and make sure all looks good.
I was getting this error and nothing else worked so I had to dissect my program. Turns out I referenced a StaticResource in my App.xaml that didn't exist.
Seems like a silly error but you'd also think Visual Studio would pick up on something like that and throw a different error so if nothing else works, double check your application resources.
As suggested by #Iman in a comment, in the UWP project settings, enable "Compile with .NET Native tool chain".
(After trying just about every answer in this question)
When I debug my project, I get following error:
"Unable to copy file "obj\Debug\My Dream.exe" to "bin\Debug\My Dream.exe". The process cannot access the file 'bin\Debug\My Dream.exe' because it is being used by another process."
Using Process Explorer, I see that MyApplication.exe was out but System process still uses it although I stopped debug before.
Whenever I change my code and start debug it is going to happen. If I copy project to USB and debug, it runs OK.
Why? How can I fix this error?
I use Window 7 Professional. With Xp I have never got this error.
Ugh, this is an old problem, something that still pops up in Visual Studio once in a while. It's bitten me a couple of times and I've lost hours restarting and fighting with VS. I'm sure it's been discussed here on SO more than once. It's also been talked about on the MSDN forums. There isn't an actual solution, but there are a couple of workarounds. Start researching here.
What's happening is that VS is acquiring a lock on a file and then not releasing it. Ironically, that lock prevents VS itself from deleting the file so that it can recreate it when you rebuild the application. The only apparent solution is to close and restart VS so that it will release the lock on the file.
My original workaround was opening up the bin/Debug folder and renaming the executable. You can't delete it if it's locked, but you can rename it. So you can just add a number to the end or something, which allows you to keep working without having to close all of your windows and wait for VS to restart. Some people have even automated this using a pre-build event to append a random string to the end of the old output filename. Yes, this is a giant hack, but this problem gets so frustrating and debilitating that you'll do anything.
I've later learned, after a bit more experimentation, that the problem seems to only crop up when you build the project with one of the designers open. So, the solution that has worked for me long term and prevented me from ever dealing with one of those silly errors again is making sure that I always close all designer windows before building a WinForms project. Yes, this too is somewhat inconvenient, but it sure beats the pants off having to restart VS twice an hour or more.
I assume this applies to WPF, too, although I don't use it and haven't personally experienced the problem there.
I also haven't yet tried reproducing it on VS 2012 RC. I don't know if it's been fixed there yet or not. But my experience so far has been that it still manages to pop up even after Microsoft has claimed to have fixed it. It's still there in VS 2010 SP1. I'm not saying their programmers are idiots who don't know what they're doing, of course. I figure there are just multiple causes for the bug and/or that it's very difficult to reproduce reliably in a laboratory. That's the same reason I haven't personally filed any bug reports on it (although I've +1'ed other peoples), because I can't seem to reliably reproduce it, rather like the Abominable Snowman.
<end rant that is directed at no one in particular>
I've had this error crop up on me before, even in Visual Studio 2008. It came back and more prevalent in Visual Studio 2012.
Here is what I do.
Paste this in the troublesome project's pre-build event:
if exist "$(TargetPath).locked" del "$(TargetPath).locked"
if exist "$(TargetPath)" if not exist "$(TargetPath).locked" move "$(TargetPath)" "$(TargetPath).locked"
Computer (right-click) -> manage -> Service & Application -> service -> Enable Application experience
Worked For me!
I had the same issue in Visual Studio 2013. I'm not sure what caused this for my project, but I was able to fix it by cleaning the solution and rebuilding it.
Build > Clean Solution
Build > Rebuild Solution
I understand this is an old question. Unfortunately I was facing the same issue with my .net core 2.0 application in visual studio 2017. So, I thought of sharing the solution which worked for me. Before this solution I had tried the below steps.
Restarted visual studio
Closed all the application
Clean my solution and rebuild
None of the above steps didn't fix the issue.
And then I opened my Task Manager and selected dotnet process and then clicked End task button. Later I opened my Visual Studio and everything was working fine.
At least in my case I've noticed that visual studio 2012 was creating at least two msbuild.exe ghost processes, which did not perish after build. These zombies apparently are causing file locks to appear.
Killing msbuild.exe's is one time solution, it needs to be done per build basis.
But then I've figure out that I could disable parallel build once and for all - went into Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > Build and Run > "maximum numbers of parallel project builds" - by default it has value of 8, I've switched to 1. Works like charm.
Of course builds are bit slower now, but better safe than sorry.
At least for this particular small project I did not need more than one build thread.
See my answer here if you're having this problem while running unit tests. Answer copied below:
Building upon Sébastien's answer, I added a pre-build step to my test
project to automatically kill any vstest.* executables still
running. The following pre-build command worked for me:
taskkill /f /im vstest.*
exit 0
The exit 0 command is at the end to prevent build failure when there
are no vstest.* executables running.
I solved this problem..
near the debug you see drop down menu with some configuration. Default there was Any CPU. Select x86 and run the program it will work. If x86 not there go to configuration manager and add the x86
Recently I've been in a trouble with Visual Studio 2012 with same error description: "The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process..."
To fix this first of all you need to understand the application which still use it. I've shutdown all processes like "MSBuild" and "MSBuild host". But this is not enough. If you have installed "Code Contracts" and turned on then it sometimes takes your DLLs for checking and hanging up on this operation.
So, you need to stop all processes of "CCCheck.exe" and that's all.
Finally, to understand that process is using your DLL you always may try to just Delete "obj" folder in your File Manager and this operation will fail, you may see the "Message Window" with description of the hanging operation. Also, as a variant, you can try to use "Sys Internals Suite" application.
Worked for me.
Task Manager -> Name of project -> End task. (i had 3 same processes with my project name);
VS 2013; Win 8;
Make sure that any previous run of the application (for example, start without debugging option) is actually stopped. I was working on a WPF application, started without debugging and had it minimized when I kept getting the error. After closing the application VS behavior got back to normal.
I have been plagued by this issue in Visual Studio 2017. It started about two or three weeks ago, and has severely eaten into my productivity. Clean and Rebulid haven't worked; even restarting my machine doesn't do the job.
One way to deal with the issue is to clean the offending assembly, and to build (as opposed to rebuild) the project you want to run immediately afterwards. This works about 30% of the time.
However, probably the most reliable solution I've found is to open a Developer Command Prompt, and use msbuild directly. I've been doing this for the last three days, and so far the problem hasn't happened once.
In my case was that I have enable "Show All Files".
Visual Studio 2017
Run taskmanager.
Locate netcore and delete it.
You can then delete the file manually or by running Clean.
This is pure speculation, and not an answer.
However, I have been having this problem for a while.
I came after a time to suspect an interaction between VS and my AV precautions.
After some playing, it seems that it may have gone away when I modified my antivirus so that everything under the
C:\Users[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\ProjectAssemblies
folder was not included in the real-time protection.
It looks as if the build actually writes the DLL here first, then copies it to the final build location.
It could be too late. But, I encountered similar problem and in my case the project had self reference. Hence, deleting it from the References worked like a charm!!!
I've found the quickest way without closing forms or restarting VisualStudio is go to the project's compile page and click "Advanced Compile Options..." button. Then make any change to one of the options (say, changing Generate Debug Info from Full to pdb-only), then click OK.
It works every time and will have to do until MS fixes this bug (I've never had this problem until I switched from VS2012 to VS2013)
Another note, if you can't clean the project or solution, it won't build. The files are definitely locked by VS (not a antivirus problem, at least not in my case)
I tried all these suggestions as well as other suggestions found elsewhere and the only thing that worked for me was restarting my computer. Then I did a clean solution followed by rebuilding. I am using Visual Studio 2013 for reference.
I have run to this same issue, and what I found is there are actually running mulitple Windows form application in the background. It happens when your application has two forms and you close the 2nd form which is not your main form so the application will not totally exited.
I usually run my application
through its exe or
run without debugging
Solution is close the other instance of Windows form application.
This is one way to always close your application instance.
Pre build command
(if exist "$(TargetDir)*old.pdb" del "$(TargetDir)*old.pdb") & (if exist "$(TargetDir)*.pdb" ren "$(TargetDir)*.pdb" *.old.pdb)
Helped
[Solved] Error: Cannot access file bin/Debug/… because it is being used by another process:
I am approaching that you get this error while you was trying to run two windows form one after another such as first loading a form then after sometimes it will automatically disappear and the second form loaded onto the screen.
Basically, you need to close your first form which is running in the background and the main reason behind this error.
To close the first form you have to add these two lines of code in the second form load event handler.
Form1 form = new Form1();
form.Close();
This will solve the error perfectly.
One simple solution is you go to bin\Debug folder, delete all the files in that folder, then rebuild. If it doesn't work, close Visual Studio then go to bin\Debug folder using file explorer, on the left coner, click on File> Open Command Prompt> Open Command Prompt as Administrator > Enter this command "DEL /F /Q /A *" > then rebuild
i found Cody Gray 's answer partially helpful, in that it did direct me to the real source of my problem which some of you may also be experiencing: visual studio's test execution stays open by default and maintains a lock on the files.
To stop that predominantly useless behaviour, follow the instructions from https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/771994/vstest-executionengine-x86-exe-32-bit-not-closing-vs2012-11-0-50727-1-rtmrel
Uncheck Test menu -> Test Settings -> "Keep Test Execution Engine Running"
My problem was dotnet got hung up and whenever VS would try to make a new dll, or access an old one, the dotnet process would latch onto the dll and stop visual studio from cloning the dll. Solution is just to end all dotnet tasks in task manager(it will only actually remove the dead one, if you are trying to end one and it won't shut down, that means it's working).
Close VisualStudio, ctrl-alt-delete, select Task Manager, find and end all MSBuild processes - VisualStudio basically has a pretty severe bug where it loses control of its debugger and the debugger maintains a lock on the .pdb file in the debug/bin folder. After you end all the MSBuild (debugger) processes, delete the /debug/bin folder and reopen your solution in Visual Studio. You're good to go now. Microsoft needs to fix this crap.
I have opened a separate question regarding VS 2017 that had a similar behavior after one update. The problem seemed to be generated by the antivirus program although.
I have added the bin folder to the antivirus exclude list, restarted the machine and now it seems to work.
I have faced the same issue, but none of the answers above helped me! I just simply closed my Visual Studio 2017 then re-run it, and It worked!
I've tried every answered here and this worked for me
Close your Project.
Stop running tasks in task manager
Restart your pc
Open and build project again
it worked for me.
I got this error because I was running my solution, but not in debug mode. I had forgotten this. I realized it and stopped my solution from running. This cleared up the issue.
Another kludge, ugh, but it's easy and works for me in VS 2013. Click on the project. In the properties panel should be an entry named Project File with a value
(your project name).vbproj
Change the project name - such as adding an -01 to the end. The original .zip file that was locked is still there, but no longer referenced ... so your work can continue. Next time the computer is rebooted, that lock disappears and you can delete the errant file.
Using Visual Studio 2010, when I build + run my application in short intervals I often get the following error. If I just wait a minute or two and try again it works fine. Unlocker claims no handle is locking the executable file. How can I discover what's locking it? If it's Visual Studio itself, what should I do to make it stop? or alternatively to release the file?
1>------ Build started: Project: MyProj, Configuration: Release Win32 ------
...
1>InitializeBuildStatus:
1> Creating "Release\MyProj.unsuccessfulbuild" because "AlwaysCreate" was specified.
1>ClCompile:
1> All outputs are up-to-date.
1> SomeFile1.cpp
1>ResourceCompile:
1> All outputs are up-to-date.
1>LINK : fatal error LNK1104: cannot open file 'D:\...\MyProj.exe'
1>
1>Build FAILED.
1>
1>Time Elapsed 00:00:00.94
========== Build: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========
Had this issue after a reinstall today. Make sure the Application Experience service is started and not set to disabled. If its set to manual, I believe VS will start it.
I'm aware this is quite old but I just had the same problem with Visual Studio 2010 all patched up so others may still run into this.
Adding my project path to "Exluded Items" in my AVG anti-virus settings appears to have fixed the problem for me.
Try disabling any anti-virus/resident shield and see if it fixes the problem. If so, add your project path to excluded directories in your AV config.
You probably had a stray build process that was locking the executable, and it (the stray process) didn't get cleaned up. In that case, shut down visual studio, open up process explorer, and nuke every process you can find that is related to visual studio.
Then open up visual studio again and try rebuilding your project.
the file can be locked because it is being run now. Try killing the process with a task manager.
Like Jonathan said, yes, renaming can help to work around this problem. But ,e.g. I was forced to rename target executable many times, it's some tedious and not good.
The problem lies there that when you run your project and later get an error that you can't build your project - it's so because this executable (your project) is still runnning (you can check it via task manager.)
If you just rename target build, some time later you will get the same error with new name too and if you open a task manager, you will see that you rubbish system with your not finished projects.
Visual studio for making a new build need to remove previous executable and create new instead of old, it can't do it while executable is still runinng. So, if you want to make a new build, process of old executable has to be closed! (it's strange that visual studio doesn't close it by itself and yes, it looks like some buggy behaviour).
It's some tedious to do it manually, so you may just a bat file and just click it when you have such problem:
taskkill /f /im name_of_target_executable.exe
it works for me at least.
Like a guess - I don't close my program properly in C++, so may be it's normal for visual studio to hold it running.
ADDITION:
There is a great chance to be so , because of not finished application. Check whether you called PostQuitMessage in the end, in order to give know Windows that you are done.
You might have not closed the the output. Close the output, clean and rebuild the file. You might be able to run the file now.
I've concluded this is some kind of Visual Studio bug. Perhaps C Johnson is right - perhaps the build process keeps the file locked.
I do have a workaround which works - each time this happens - I change the Target Name of the executable under the Project's properties (right click the project, then Properties\Configuration Properties\General\Target Name).
In this fashion VS creates a new executable and the problem is worked around. Every few times I do this I return to the original name, thus cycling through ~3 names.
If someone will find the reason for this and a solution, please do answer and I may move the answer to yours, as mine is a workaround.
I had the same problem, however using Codeblocks. Because of this problem i quited programming because everytime i just wanted to throw my computer out of the window.
I want to thank user963228 whos answer is really a solution to that. You have to put Application Experience on Manual startup(you can do it by searching services in windows 7 start menu, and then find Application Experience and click properties).
This problem happens when people want to tweak theyr windows 7 machine, and they decide to disable some pointless services, so they google some tweaking guide and most of those guides say that Application Experience is safe to disable.
I think this problem should be linked to windows 7 problem not VS problem and it should be more visible - it took me long time to find this solution.
Thanks again!
Just to add another solution to the list, what I've found is that Visual Studio (2012 in my case) occasionally locks files under different processes.
So, on a crash, devenv.exe might still be running and holding onto the file(s). Alternatively (as I just discovered), vstestrunner or vstestdiscovery might be holding onto the file as well.
Kill all those processes and it might fix up the issue.
I have just run into the same issue with VS2013, creating device drivers in C++ , and none of the above seemed to fix the issue. However, I have just discovered that in my case the issue appears to have been VMWare-related.
I was running a VMWare workstation client with a shared folder defined on the VM on my entire C: drive. When I disabled the shared folders on the VM Settings, VS2013 was able to happily build my .exe files.
My new process is:
1) Disable the shared folder on the vm (VM Settings | Options | Shared Folders - and uncheck the checkbox)
2) Run the build on the host PC
3) RE-enable the shared folder (and proceed from there)
Hopefully this might help someone else.
(BTW, the errors you receive are that the .exe (or other files) are locked or require Administrator permission, but that is a red herring - It seems to me that the VMWare share is causing those files to appear as locked.)
Usually, this means that your program is locked and might not be killed through task manager or process explorer. I met a similar case that my program had an exception during running and triggered the windows error reporting which locked the program. For the case that windows error reporting locks the program, you can go to control panel->System and Security->Action Center->Problem Reporting Settings to set "Never check for solutions". Hope it helps.
For me it was happening, when I was trying to build in debug mode, but it was working fine in release mode. I changed the build configuration in the visual studio from x86 to x64 and it worked fine for me, as I was running on 64 bit system.
I just had this issue in VS22 - I think I closed the debugger right when it was compiling. All I had to do was restart my computer.
The error comes (at least sometimes) from paths that are too long. In my project simply reducing the output file path does the job:
"Properties/Configuration Properties/General/Intermediate Directory"
Seems that I have hit the 250 character path limitation.
Working with Bjarne Stroustrup Programming Principles and Practice Using C++ "FLTK" example i got the same error but after like 1 hour i got an idea, i tracked one of the libs already seen in Project Properties -> Linker -> Input -> Additional Dependencies, in my case i tracked the kernel32.lib to see where was located and saw there were many kernel32.lib's in different folders. So i started copy the FLTK libs in those folders and the last one i tried worked. Visual Studio 2013 Express found the fltkd.lib and the code worked.
In my case the correct route was C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\Lib\winv6.3\um\x86
I don't know how to set that route inside Visual Studio.
Not sure if that Windows kits folder was created when i installed Microsoft Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4 (ISO) http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8442
Hope that helps you people.
I just had thesame problem. With me the exe was still running but I could not end it with the Task Manager. Just by restarting VS, it worked for me.
Mine is that if you set MASM listing file option some extra selection, it will give you this error.
Just use
Enable Assembler Generated Code Listing Yes/Sg
Assembled Code Listing $(ProjectName).lst
it is fine.
But any extra you have issue.