Visual Studio Unable to Copy File ...Access to the Path is Denied

Question

I am unable to build my project when the Solution Configurations dropdown is set to 'Test'. Multiple errors appear, most of which read 'Unable to copy file [File location] to [copy file location] Access to the path [copy file location] is denied. I have already checked or attempted the following, and the issue is still unresolved:

• The latest version of Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform NuGet package is installed
• The solution has been restarted
• Clean and Rebuild has been attempted
• This only occurs with the Solution Configuration is set to the Configuration 'TEST', so this should not be an issue with anti-virus software
• I have updated to the latest version of Visual Studio as of 8/24/2018
• I have unchecked the read only attribute on the folder (it resets to read only each time)
• This does not occur when I change the Solution Configuration to Release or Debug
• Deleting the files in the bin/Test folder
• taskkill /F /IM VBCSCompiler.exe /T
• I have tried running Visual Studio as an Admin
• I have reproduced this error on a second machine using the same code from the same TFS repository

Answer 1

For me worked the following:

Project / Properties / Build:

Change Output path to another folder, build, then restore your original path.

Answer 2

I clicked properties, added Full Control and Modify permissions for users, and then did a clean and rebuild on my project. I did this at the folder level, and parent folder levels before the issue was resolved.

Answer 3

Based upon what you have provided, to me it seems like a permissions/access issue.

1. Are you logged in as a Local Admin? If not you may want to get elevated privileges or see if you have other security related items holding you back (e.g. group policy coming down that may be inhibiting you etc).

2. Speaking of elevate privileges, have you tried right clicking on the Visual Studio exe and doing "Run As Admin"? This may help as well.

3. You could also download ProcMon (Process Monitor) and do a trace while you are trying to build. This may provide answers to what is going on. ProcMon is now owned by Microsoft (used to be SysInternals, but they got bought by MS many moons ago) --- I would download it, run a trace, then do a filter for "Access Denied" for the results to see what you may not have access to.

4. Perhaps try logging in as a different user to see if that helps?

Hope this helps!!