I use windowsform application using C# language, I have many forms, and when I want to traverse from one to another, I use this.Hide();
When I use this method, I receive the shown error,
I know that the solution is to end process using windows task manager, But the question is that Is there any way I can use travel between forms without leading to this error?
Error 9 Unable to copy file "obj\x86\Debug\WindowsFormsApplication1.exe" to "bin\Debug\WindowsFormsApplication1.exe". The process cannot access the file 'bin\Debug\WindowsFormsApplication1.exe' because it is being used by another process. C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets 2868
Easy going solution is to add some code in Project Properties..
Just go to Project tab and select project properties..
From there select Build Events tab.
And in Pre-build event Command line add the following code..
if exist "$(TargetPath).locked" del "$(TargetPath).locked"
if not exist "$(TargetPath).locked" move "$(TargetPath)" "$(TargetPath).locked"
Although you Hide() your forms, they still remain as a part of the process. If you don't close every form properly, the process will remain running and you cannot recompile your project and eventually you will have to kill your process using the taskmanager.
Visual Studio tries to rewrite your executable and if the executable runs as a process, Windows will refuse to write to your .exe.
Just delete the .exe file in the bin folder: bin\Debug\WindowsFormsApplication1.exe
Don't worry, the build will create a new one.
I believe this is happen while you compiling the application or you start debugging the application.
This may be due to.
While you stop the debug in VS, the process may not be stopped.
May be you just executed the application, by double clicking it.
Might be some issues due to permission. If you are using source control, some folders may be treated as read only while downloading the project. So you need to edit that manually.
Make sure that you used Application.Exit() to exit from all the process.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.application.exit.aspx
I finally how fix it. Why we can't continue debug after the first debug because the first debug exe still running. So that, after first debug, you need to go to Task Manager -> Process Tab -> [your project name exe] end the exe process.
close visual studio
in windows 7
click Shift + Ctrl + esc
in Tab processes
find process like the name of your project and end it.
I managed to fix it by deleting the suo file (hidden solution file).
Simple method is to delete the .exe file from the project directory folder and build the project again. this will create new exe file and problem will solve.
I've got a C# webforms app, that until today had been working just swimmingly.
Now today, all of a sudden, every time I try run the app, I get a file locking error:
Unable to copy file "obj\Debug\MyProject.exe" to "bin\Debug\MyProject.exe". The process cannot access the file "bin\Debug\MyProject.exe" because it is being used by another process.
Googling the error doesn't come up with anything beyond the obvious, i.e. VS thinks the file is locked. And it is definitely Visual Studio itself that locks the file, because when I close VS and reopen it, the project executes fine - the first time. When I try to run it a second time, I get the file locking error.
Closing VS and reopening every time I want to run the app is not a viable workaround! How do I find out what's locking the file, and stop it from getting locked?
EDIT: Another interesting discovery: I don't even have to run the app. Just compiling it once causes the file locking; I cannot compile twice in a row!
This problem is specific to one project in my solution. All other projects work fine and can be executed as many times as I like. It's only this one project that gets itself locked up.
I have found a simple solution which works for me. It goes like this:
When the problem occurs, just change the building configuration at the top (if in “Release” to “Debug” and vice versa), build and then change back to previous configuration and build again.
I suppose that changing the configuration releases the vcshost and devenv.
Well, I solved the problem myself - though I still have no clue why. I decided to isolate the problem by removing all files from the project, then re-adding them and determining that way which file was the source of my trouble. So, one by one I reintroduced files to the project, compiled & cleaned each step of the way... until... I added the last one...
... and everything still worked fine.
I did a compare to the source control of my original .csproj; no real differences. And even when I tried reverting to the previous version of the .csproj, it still worked.
Black magic. If it works, sometimes it's better not to ask why - just accept it and move on...
EDIT: The problem is a recurring one, and I believe I've isolated it to when I have the form designer open of an abstract/generic form at compile time.
Lesson learned: Make sure the Form Designer of any abstract or generic forms or controls is closed before you compile! If not, you have to close VS and reopen!
What we have discovered here, is the following:
In the project properties page, Debug tab, uncheck the "Enable visual studio hosting process".
I am unsure what this property is for, but it does the work once unchecked.
Solved by closing all instances of MSBuild.exe in the windows task manager
Actually you should want "Enable the Visual Studio hosting process" checked. At least for VS2010 anyway. And I also have:
if exist "$(TargetPath).locked" del "$(TargetPath).locked"
if exist "$(TargetPath)" if not exist "$(TargetPath).locked" move "$(TargetPath)" "$(TargetPath).locked"
in the pre-build options. This problem has dogged me for a very long time and it wasn't until John W. mentioned this check box that I even took notice that it existed and low and behold it was already unchecked.
Also notice that -app-vshost.exe runs in the background even when not debugging. Which is what makes it successfully build and run every time I guess. It wasn't running before. And I also tried cleaning out the debug and release folders and changing the target type constantly and nothing worked except as described above. My solution before was to just wait 5 minutes between builds, which got super annoying and time-consuming to get anything done. I haven't seen any change in behavior where it mattered what tabs where open or XNA vs windows form or designers being opened. This issue occurred in 32-bit or 64-bit builds and didn't matter if I killed an app with ALT-F4 or killing it with task manager, which would, in theory, not allow the app to close or release resources. At first I thought it was a garbage collection issue.
I have overcome this problem by renaming the locked file (using Windows Explorer). I was not allowed to delete the file, but renaming the locked file works!
Little late to answer, but I solved this by going to the properties of the project > tab "Debug" > unchecked "Enable the Visual Studio hosting process" option.
I solved this by deleting the folder bin\Debug and, possibly, restarting VS
Run this command from the Run box:
net stop iisadmin /y
and then
iisreset
worked for me.
vs 2003
For me, it was a Windows Service that was installed and running. Once I stopped it, the build was successful.
I had a similar error but during the deployment of the UWP application. Finally, I found out the process that used a file that caused this error and stopped it. Credits to this link. Copy-pasted version is below.
How to Solve the Issue?
One of the easiest ways to handle locked files or folders is to use Microsoft Sysinternals Process Explorer.
Identify what program is using a file
Using Process Explorer there is a simple way to find the program:
Open Process Explorer (running as administrator).
On the toolbar, find the gunsight icon on the right.
Drag the icon and drop it on the open file or folder that is locked.
The executable that is using the file will be highlighted in the Process Explorer main display list.
Identify which handle or DLL is using a file
Open Process Explorer (running as administrator).
Enter the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+F.
Alternatively, click the “Find” menu and select “Find a Handle or DLL”.
A search dialog box will open.
Type in the name of the locked file or other file of interest.
Partial names are usually sufficient.
Click the button “Search”.
A list will be generated.
There may be a number of entries.
And then kill this process.
Unfortunately none of the answers worked for me. This is what solved it:
Win Key + R and run resmon.exe. There you'll find the EXE process that VS claims to be using the file. Right click and end the process. Although you might get an Access Denied error message, it will be suspended and you'll be able to build again.
Recently ran into this problem when attempting to build a solution I am working on (not just a winforms proj).
In addition to build failure, I noticed that cleaning projects would quietly fail (checking the bin folder showed that the files had not actually been erased) and closing the Visual Studio did not end the devenv process - rather, it caused it to crash. Windows recovery process would then restart the Visual Studio.
After some trial and error, I found the problems only happened to me when I opened the solution from the "Recent" menu on starting up VS.
Opening the solution from File >> Open >> Project/Solution found it working as per usually.
Currently no idea why - will keep looking into this but for now, at least I can work!
Just check the references and remove the self-reference to the project.
Explanation: My problem started after creating a custom control and drag and drop it to the toolbox palette for use it in design forms. First appeared a warning saying that there was a redundance between the custom control source file (.cs) and the projects executable (.exe). On executing/debugging appeared the error: unable to access the (.exe) because it's being used (and it was true).
I literally removed the whole source code regarding the custom control and the problem still remained, until I checked out the references and it was referencing itself in order to be "able to" get the former custom control. I removed the reference and done!!
I had the same issue on my Xamarin application in visual studio and it was resolved by unplugging my test mobile device. The application was closed and the debugger was stopped but the error was still happening when trying to build or rebuild the solution. It only stopped after i unplugged the device because i had to receive a call.
Just to throw in my 2 cents. My issue was solved by opening Task Manager and killing the application. It was running in the background without any indication that it was running at all (no item in the task bar, no ui, nothing), but I am not sure why this happened. Obviously the debugger was not running and I only had a single instance of VS opened at the time. It amazes me that this is still happening in this VS 2017.
Perhaps I can add a build step that looks for the application running the background and kills it before starting the new one.
I had the same issue and could not rectify by using any of the methods mentioned in previous answers. I resolved the issue by killing all instances of "SSIS Debug Hist (32 bit)" in task manager and now working as normal.
I had this issue (and its an issue I have seen in other places not just VS).
It's caused by Dropbox (in my case). After editing some code and hitting run, sometimes dropbox immediately locks the file (so it can process it).
Solution 1.
Just hit run again
Solution 2.
Pause dropbox. (not good if your using dropbox as your cloud backup)
Solution 3.
Remove the build folder from dropboxes sync list.
Deleting Obj, retail and debug folder of the .NET project and re-building again worked for me.
This got me stuck for over two days, had to reclone the project and save the project folder in a different name, but today I found the solution from a microsoft dev forum.
solution:
Create a pre-build action in your project by going to project properties (right-click on the project in the solution explorer, and select the Properties option), select the Build Events tab. Add this code:
if exist "$(TargetPath).locked" del "$(TargetPath).locked"
if not exist "$(TargetPath).locked" move "$(TargetPath)" "$(TargetPath).locked"
This code will copy the file to a different name, and allows the build to continue successfully.
How is your web app configured? Does it run under Cassini (the tray web server) or IIS?
This shouldn't happen normally though. I think ProcessExplorer can tell you what files a process has locked. If not process explorer one of the other sysinternals tools.
One thing to try before even downloading one of the SI tools is to stop the Cassini web server, and seeing if that frees up the file.
What worked for me was restarting IIS
i had this same problem as well. changing the debug/release config didn't do the trick. at least not without building in between.
in my solution (winform) it was solved by opening the mainform of the winform in the designer. switching to code (F7). Then closing the code, closing the designer of the winform and rebuild all (ctrl-shift-B). This worked for me.
seems like some kind of handle from within the winform app (which runs a backgroundworker) still had a file handle on some of the other libraries used.
I had two instances of Visual Studio opened the same solution.
In my case there were some vstest processes running (with various names but all containing the string vstest). I had to terminate them in taskmgr.
Same error, solved by updating Google Nuget support packages
When I ended the process .Net Core Host, everything built fine. I didn't have to close Visual Studio or do change anything else.
For those who are developing in VS with Docker, restart the docker for windows service and the problem will be solved immediately.
Before restarting docker I tried all the mentioned answers, didn't find a msbuild.exe process running, also tried restarting VS without avail, only restarting docker worked.
One more solution: when the files get locked, blocking process is reported (something like "ServiceHub.Host.CLR.x64 (7764)") with it's id in parentheses.
To get rid of the process, open PowerShell (x + Win + I) and type: "Stop-Process -Id idNumber".
I recently ran into the issue when deploying to Service Fabric. The error is implying a 'file' is in use, however, I found that the port was being used by another IDE. By stopping a running service which was already hosting on the port, I was able to stop this exception from occurring.
I have a ClickOnce cmd line app that is throwing an exception on initialise. I can't see details of the exception because the console window closes before I can see it.
I have tried launching (my using the shortcut from the start menu, simply dropping it on to the console window) but it launches a separate console, writes the error to that and closes!
How can I see the error?!
Thanks
Ryan
I recommend tracking down the executable in the ClickOnce cache and double-clicking on it to see if it's a ClickOnce problem or a problem in your application.
The cache is in C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Apps\2.0\obfuscatedfolder\obfuscatedfolder and from there you'll have to look in the folders for the one with your exe in it.
If it works, then it's a bug in your app. I'd put some messageboxes or logging in your app, or put in a try-catch around the start routine and have it show the exception and prompt the user for input in order to continue.
If it doesn't work, I would install .NET 4 on the machine and enable the enhanced ClickOnce logging and then check out the log file. (Note: The app does not have to target .NET 4, it just has to be installed on the machine.) Here's an article on how to enable enhanced logging for a ClickOnce application.
Here is a little quick & dirty solution:
Use a .bat file.
In the first line launch the shortcut, the second line is just a pause.
start shortcut_name
pause
Here is good link if you're not familiar using with .bat files