Reputation: 4929

Unable to copy a file from obj\Debug to bin\Debug

I have a project in C# and I get this error every time I try to compile the project:

(Unable to copy file "obj\Debug\Project1.exe" to "bin\Debug\Project1.exe". The process cannot access the file 'bin\Debug\Project1.exe' because it is being used by another process.)

So I have to close the process from the task manager. My project is only one form and there is no multi-threading.

What is the solution (without restarting VS or killing the process)?

Upvotes: 78

Answers (30)

Danushka Madushanka

Reputation: 169

Go to Task manager and end the task with your application name.

Upvotes: 3

adnan Alyaari

Reputation: 61

i solved this problem by move the project folder to another desk as " D:\" and open the .sln and rebuild it ,it work finely then re back the project folder to the orignal path c:\....\source....

Upvotes: 0

pear95

Reputation: 66

In my case, the problem was with the path length.

The solution is to reduce/change the problem file path. If the problem is with a file inside your project, you should reduce/change the repository path from e.g.

C:\Users\userTest\folder1\folder2\folder3\...\folderX\myProject\...\file.exe

to e.g.

 C:\Users\userTest\folder1\myProject\...\file.exe

In others words by default the path length can't be upper than 260 characters.

Upvotes: 0

Yoky

Reputation: 852

Just delete the content of the debug folder and Rebuild the solution. That worked on couple of occasions for me.

Upvotes: 0

Greg Young

Reputation: 543

I am having this problem on VS2019 running on Win 7. This felt very similar to a problem I have commonly on Win 7. Specifically, I am occasionally unable to move/delete a file proviosly used by another program, even though I've closed that program. I believe that Windows has lost track of this file for purposes of managing file sharing. I've read many places this can be fixed by modifying the file's security/ownership settings, but this hasn't worked for me. But rebooting my PC (restarting Windows) does fix the problem. Same here - I was able to get past this VS2019 copy problem by rebooting my PC.

It's also worth noting that I was able to figure out what caused this bug - cleaning projects. It doesn't happen all the time, it actually seems quite rare. But when it happens, it seems my only solution is rebooting my PC.

Upvotes: -1

abdurrab

Reputation: 147

Just end process of MSBuild.exe in Windows Task Manager every time you run project.

Upvotes: -1

iBala

Reputation: 245

what error says is- unable to copy file or unable to copy file. it means while the visual studio file open, couldn't able to do any copy file transaction. so close all open files and documents.

Upvotes: 0

Shahram Banazadeh

Reputation: 510

in my case problem was in web config. I just removed

<system.web>
    <hostingEnvironment shadowCopyBinAssemblies="false" />
  </system.web>

Upvotes: 0

Coder Warrior

Reputation: 61

No matter what the cause of this problem is, the only working solution for me is the following:

Go to Your-Project-Properties -> Application tab(first tab) -> Change the Assembly name.

This way your app creates a new assembly file each time you change the assembly name.

Finally, after you finish to develop, you can delete all those extra assembly files and just keep the last one (main one). Non of the other solutions worked for me, except this one.

Upvotes: 2

Sajjad Ali

Reputation: 23

I had the same problem, so I solved in this way.

Step 1: Close Vb.

Step 2: Just go to your project directory and delete Bin folder.

Step 3: Open Vb.

Upvotes: -1

Adi

Reputation: 19

This solution worked for me:

Go to Build -> Configuration Manager -> Active solution platform -> Select x64 (you may have to create new) and finally set the Platform to x64 and close.

Upvotes: 0

Robert Virgo

Reputation: 11

Disable any Anti Ransomware (like MalwareBytes) running, then the problem should be solved.

Upvotes: 0

Ajoe

Reputation: 1545

I too had the same issue. I resolved it

Closed my VS, then in Task Manager, End tasks like Microsoft VisualStudio WCF Tools, MSBuild.exe

Then open VS and clean and rebuild.

Upvotes: 2

mehmoodnisar125

Reputation: 1529

My Visual studio 2019 suddenly stops and restarts and then when i run project this error comes.

I resolve this issue by going into my project folder and delete bin and obj folder Then clean and rebuild my project. This resolve my issue.

Upvotes: 0

Sofia Khwaja

Reputation: 2069

Rename the assembly to a different name to solve this issue.

Upvotes: 4

Esther Lalremruati

Reputation: 318

Mine got solved by:

Clean solution
Close all processes depending on VS (Current instances).
Rebuild

Upvotes: 3

moath naji

Reputation: 661

after day with search and build and rebuild i found that you just need to turn off turn on the visual studio its look like it catch the service in different thread

Upvotes: 0

Dina Bogdan

Reputation: 4698

A very simple solution is to open the Task Manager (CTRL + ALT + DELETE), go to Processes tab and search by name the processes with your project name that are still running. Kill all the processes and go on ! :)

Upvotes: 0

tmighty

Reputation: 11399

I struggeled with this since years. I finally downloaded LockHunter to find out who locked the file. In my case it was MBAM. Once I added my project's directory to MBAMs exclusion list, I didn't have this problem anymore.

Upvotes: 1

Rocky

Reputation: 407

Solution1:

Close the project.
Delete the bin folder.
Open the project.
Build the project.

Solution2:

Add the following code in pre-build event:

attrib -r $(OutDir)*..\* /s

This command line code will remove the ready-only attribute of "bin" folder. Now visual studio can easily delete and copy new dlls.

Upvotes: 0

Novpiar Effendi

Reputation: 317

Close your project
Delete bin folder

i find it work, :)

Upvotes: 7

coggicc

Reputation: 255

I had to go into windows explorer and delete the bin/debug folder as well as the obj/debug folders. Then I cleaned & rebuilt the project.

Upvotes: 7

Alex

Reputation: 1239

for me it was the antivirus. Just add visual studio project or entire parent folder to Antivirus exclusion list or you can also add file extension as exclusion and this method worked for me in visual studio 2010/2012

Upvotes: 0

zawhtut

Reputation: 8551

If this error was encountered, you can proceed as the following

End the msbuild.exe task
End the explorer.exe task
Run the explorer.exe task again

Upvotes: 0

chaosifier

Reputation: 2964

This should work.

Go to your project properties. Inside Build Events, under Pre-build event command line, add these two lines of code:

if exist "$(TargetPath).locked" del "$(TargetPath).locked"
if exist "$(TargetPath)" if not exist "$(TargetPath).locked" move "$(TargetPath)" "$(TargetPath).locked"

Upvotes: 47

Khaneddy2013

Reputation: 1321

This happened to me at VS 2010 and Win 7.. Case :

I can not Rebuild with Debug Configuration manager, but I can rebuild with Release Configuration manager

debug

What I have tried:

Check my account type at control panel - user account --> My Account is Administrator

cpanel

Set the bin folder not read only

not read only

Add security at bin folder to Everyone

everyone

stop the iis server

iis stop

Stop antivirus, check ridiculous running program using task manager and ProcessExplorer
run VS as administrator

If All that way is still not working.

Then, the last way to try:

close solution
close visual studio
start - shutdown
press power button to turn on the computer
login to your account which has administrator previlege at user type
reopen solution
rebuild
that way working. All people call this way as Reset Computer

Upvotes: 4

mizzle

Reputation: 578

I found that ending all msbuild.exe tasks (in Task Manager) fixed the issue with VS2012.

Upvotes: 1

LCJ

Reputation: 22652

Not a direct answer to your question..

One scenario when this can come is listed below -

If your application is under Debugging process - say by "Attach to Process" debugging, this error may come

Upvotes: 0

Hamid Talebi

Reputation: 1318

I had same problem, after read your answers , went to Task Manager and searched for app.exe because i believe maybe it doesn't close .
And found it , select it and do END TASK .my problem solved.

Upvotes: 2

Kataku

Reputation: 145

Well i have the same problem, my way to fix it was to stop and disable the "application experience" service in Windows.

Upvotes: 0

Unable to copy a file from obj\Debug to bin\Debug

Answers (30)

This should work.

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