Develop Reference

error CS2012: Cannot open <executable path> access to <executable path denied>

I was working on a WPF application in Visual Studio 2015 and all went well until unexpectedly the build dropped me the CS2012 error inform me that it cannot access/update the executable in the /Debug directory.
I tried the following and it didn't work:
Restart
Close VS and open the application again
Build->Clean
I couldn't find any solution in the web so I tried:
1. to move the whole project directory to another location.
2. creating a new WPF project and assembling it file by file with copy/pastes.
The weird thing was that in both cases the application worked in the new location. I continued the experimentation (in the original directory) and i tried to build a "Hello World" Console application in the same directory. The result was that the trivial console application didn't work and produced the same problem as the WPF application (CS2012 error).
Since I haven't noticed any activity of another program (i.e., antivirus) trying to quarantine (or changing the file/folder permissions of) this folder, I assume that this has been done by VS somehow but I don't know why. Perhaps it is a bug.
Is anyone has a logical explanation about this problem? And a way to fix it?

I found that my other running solution was referencing the same < executable path>.
Just make sure that no other process is using the referenced folder/file/dll

Try to close all processes, move the project to a different folder (on a different disk) b restart the computer and everything will work as it should. It worked for me without any problems. Hope this helps someone

I wanted to quickly test something in a .NET Core Console Application Solution and ran into this issue due to BitDefender blocking the resulting binaries.
I've named the app client which actually was the culprit. Renaming my solution fixed this.

Sometimes antivirus softwares can block copying an exe file from a folder to any path. You can manage by settings or the easiest way is to shut down live protection while you are coding and debugging.
:)

Deactivate your anti-virus for a while and try again.
This works for me.

Installation of the application failed. XAP package signature is not valid or the WP manifest file is invalid.

I have a WP8 app that I need to build in 3 configurations (release, release(prepro), release(fake)). Each configuration point to a different server and has different app icons. I need to be able to have all the 3 build in the phone at the same time so my solution is that I have created 3 different WMAppManifest.xml files (with different guids and icon paths) and I copy the right one in a pre-build step. This works fine (Based on this article http://www.tonicodes.net/blog/using-different-wmappmanifest-files-for-release-and-debug-builds/).
I upgraded the app to WP81 Silverlight. There is an additional Package.appxmanifest file. So I created 3 different Package.appxmanifest files, setting the PhoneProductId attribute to the right guid and added a pre-build step to do the copying also for this file.
When I try to run the app in release(prepro) or release(fake), meaning different WMAppManifest.xml an Package.appxmanifest are copied to the project first, I get
Installation of the application failed. XAP package signature is not valid or the WP manifest file is invalid. Re-sign with valid signature and fix the manifest file.
Is there something other than PhoneProductId that I need to changed in the new Package.appxmanifest files to make work?

I had the same issue, and maybe i can help you out. this xap signature is not valid happens a lot when some of the "pictures" in the appxmanifest file are not actually in the project. i have deleted my splashscreen picture that caused this error, deleting it from the appxmanifest file solved it. Beside that for each package you have a new package id wich if you want to publish the app you get in the dev center after you register your alias.
And there is the publisher ID wich you will also get after reverving an app name, its in this format "CN=************".
And the most important, and that i think what you search for, you can not install the same app twice on one phone. i tried it and somehow it just dont work. I have an app from store, and i can not install the same from visual studio before i dont delete the one from store. That happened never before on 8.0

I found a really easy workaround. Just add "DEBUG" to the end of the current Package name in the Package.appxmanifest designer.
Then you can have the debug version deployed: just be sure to remove the "DEBUG" from the Package name before you submit to the Store.
Also, if you still have the WMAppManifest.xml file, likewise append "DEBUG" to the Display Name so that on your phone you can easily differentiate which is which.
Cheers.

I found I needed to:
Make the Package.appxmanifest Package > Identity > Name unique (as per #kjo4jc's answer)
Change the Package.appxmanifest mp:PhoneIdentity > PhoneProductId GUID to differ from the value used in the store.
The changed GUID also needed to be changed in wmappmanifest.xml Deployment > App > ProductID to match.

I've found this happens if you try to debug an app on a phone that already has a version of the app downloaded from the store.
The easiest way to fix is to unistall the app from your phone first.

Deploy new version of an existing ActiveX control

I'm writing a .NET 4.0 based ActiveX control for IE7+. I have to manage an interface with a key-reader device. I followed some great tutorials and articles about "how to do" it, and currently is working well.
My problems started when I wanted to deploy an other version of my control.
I'm using VS2010 with setup deployment project and cabarc for the .CAB. The 1.0.0.0 version went well. Currently I would like to get the 1.0.2.0 version working, and it is doing its job well, but IE always prompting for an install. Again and again.
What I did:
1: Changed the AssemblyInfoVersion.cs to version 1.0.2.0
2: Changed the .inf file according version to 1.0.2.0
3: Changed the .msi version to 1.0.2
And I changed the OBJECT tag in the HTML page to #version=1,0,2,0
So far so fine. It is installed! I can see it under the "Uninstall Programs", the version of the control is 1,0,2 ! Great, but the IE still wants me to donwload and install it every time when I open the page.
I saw a thread connected with Excel: How to get COM Server for Excel written in VB.NET installed and registered in Automation Servers list?
And I got usefull information about I should change something in the registry. I did some search there, and I fould my classId under :
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\CLSID{GUID}
I have here the following subkeys:
InstalledVersion
Implemented Categories
InprocServer32
ProgId
I was happy, because I saw, that in the InstalledVersion part the version still 1,0,1,0. I changed it to 1,0,2,0 and... it did not worked. I serched through the registry, now everywhere the InstalledVersion is 1,0,2,0. The .dll version is 1,0,2,0. The installed control's version is 1,0,2. Under the InprocServer32 I have all three 1,0,0,0 ; 1,0,1,0; 1,0,2,0 versions. And of course in the HTML code the version is also 1,0,2,0.
(My machine is 64 bit Win7, IE9)
Could anybody help in this, what I missed?
Other problem with this whole scenario: After the version increase by the first install my dev machine is rebooting without any question. Do you have any idea what kind of settings can make this behavior?
UPDATE:
The problem solved. I'm kind of blind or just a bit tired because of this.
But the problem is may important for the future:
First a summary about the issue:
After a new version was deployed (installed well on client) the IE was always propting for install the version.
The problem source is in the registry. You should have the rigth version number in the InstalledVersion(Default) registry key.
I had a very special case here (and I don't know the cause yet), but I had two entries with (Default) under the SubKey InstalledVersion. The firs one was empty, the second one contained the rigth value. I could not delete the first one, but the second one only. After I changed the first (Default) everything worked find!

The second problem with the automatic restart solved too.
This thread helped: MSI installer with Silent or Passive mode will automatically restart computer without prompt for user sometimes
Have to add the /qn /norestart or /promptrestart to end of an msiexec call, because without this flag the windows automatic restarts itself without questioning.
If somebody has a similiar issue, then here is the solution in my case:
[RunSetup]
run="""msiexec.exe""" /i """%EXTRACT_DIR%\KeyReaderEngineInstaller.msi""" /qn /promptrestart

According to Microsoft Documentatation:
/promptrestart
Prompt before restarting option. Displays a message that a restart is required to complete the installation and asks the user whether to restart the system now. This option cannot be used together with the /quiet option.
You can either use /qn /norestart or just /promptrestart. In my case, just the IE had to be restarted, instead of the whole operational system. Therefore, I use /qn /norestart

Unable to connect to ASP.Net Development Server issue

I am debugging codeplex simple project. I am using
VSTS 2008
C#
Windows Vista x86 Enterprise.
I have not modified any code of this codeplex project, and just press F5 to run VideoPlayerWeb project.
The current issue I met with is error message --
Unable to connect to ASP.Net Development Server.
Here is my screen snapshots when clicking F5. Any ideas what is wrong?

I had this problem with VS 2010, and it was as simple as terminating the "WebDev.WebServer40.EXE" process. Although the icon was no longer showing in the system tray, the process was still running.

Could be a number of things...try these (check the last one first)...
Disable IPv6
Make sure there isnt an edit in the
hosts file for localhost
Check firewall/virus settings to allow connections to/from
devenv.exe
If you can preview in the browser
make sure the URL in the browser uses
the same port number as the port
number shown in the ASP.NET dev
server taskbar icon.
Try setting a fixed, predefined port
in project properties
I got these from a couple of forums elsewhere, hopefully they can help. Good luck. Let us know what works and some more about your environment (firewall, anti virus etc) can help as well.

Under project settings, try specifying a different port like 64773 for example. I have encountered this issue many times and it has always worked for me.

It cause the already that project port server is running in the current thread. You need to end process using task manager.
Follow below step:
Pres Ctrl+Alt+Delete (Task Manager)
find the asp.net server like
WebDev.WebServer40.exe for VS2010
and press end process.
Now u continue with vs2010 run
button

I went to the project file and changed the development server port to 1504. Well 1504 worked on another project for me, so I went with that. Hope this helps.

I have tried all of the above solutions and others from other websites too but with no luck.
What worked for me, was to rename or delete the applicationhost file:
C:\Users\User\Documents\IISExpress\config\applicationhost < rename or delete.

That is very odd! I hate to suggest something as simple as restarting Visual Studio...but that is what sounds like the best first place to start. Also, check your project settings. As you said that you just downloaded this and tried to run it...perhaps the solution/project is not set up to use the Casini server that is shipped with Visual Studio?

Here are the steps
'Website' Menu in your visual studio ide.
select 'Start Options'
enable 'Use Custom Server' radio button.
Enter any URL you desire similar to 'http://localhost:8010/MyApp'
Note1: you can use any port number not only '8010' but not designated port numbers like 8080(tcpip),25(smtp),21(ftp) etc.,
Note2: you can use any name not only 'MyApp'
This solution works for sure unless your WebDev.Webserver.exe is physically corrupted.

Error
1) Unable to connect Asp.net development server ?
Answer: No way find for that error
Try 1)
Step 1: Select the “Tools->External Tools” menu option in VS or Visual Web Developer. This will allow you to configure and add new menu items to your Tools menu.
Step 2: Click the “Add” button to add a new external tool menu item. Name it “WebServer on Port 8010” (or anything else you want).
Step 3: For the “Command” textbox setting enter this value: C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\WebD ev.WebServer.EXE (note: this points to the
web-server that VS usually automatically runs).
Step 4: For the “Arguments” textbox setting enter this value: /port:8010 /path:$(ProjectDir) (or any port you like)
Step 5: Select the “Use Output Window” checkbox (this will prevent the command-shell window from popping up.
Once you hit apply and ok you will now have a new menu item in your “Tools” menu called “WebServer on Port 8010”. You can now select any web project in your solution
and then choose this menu option to launch a web-server that has a root site on port 8010 (or whatever other port you want) for the project.
You can then connect to this site in a browser by simply saying http://localhost:8010/. All root based references will work fine.
Step 6: The last step is to configure your web project to automatically reference this web-server when you run or debug a site instead of launching the built-in
web-server itself. To-do this, select your web-project in the solution explorer, right click and select “property pages”. Select the “start options” setting on the left, and
under server change the radio button value from the default (which is use built-in webserver) to instead be “Use custom server”. Then set the Base URL value to be:
http://localhost:8010/
Obviously I don't know if this is the problem you had but definitely it is something similar, essentially the problem should be that the same port used by your
Development Server is not available because it is already used by another web server.
Try 2)
Here are the steps
1. 'Website' Menu in your visual studio ide.
2. select 'Start Options'
3. enable 'Use Custom Server' radio button.
4. Enter any URL you desire similar to 'http://localhost:8010/MyApp'
Note1: you can use any port number not only '8010' but not designated port numbers like 8080(tcpip),25(smtp),21(ftp) etc.,
Note2: you can use any name not only 'MyApp'
This solution works for sure unless your WebDev.Webserver.exe is physically corrupted.
Both of not worked after that Windows repair option remain

My solution was to turn off Internet Connection Sharing on my wireless adapter, after which it immediately worked. I made no other change. I suspect ICS's DHCP server was interfering.

Try commenting out the following line, if it exists, in your hosts file (%windir%\System32\drivers\etc\hosts):
::1 localhost
This worked for me using Visual Studio 2008 SP1 on Vista Ultimate x64 SP2.

I got this problem a couple of times and done different things to fix it. When I got it this time all I did to stop getting "unable to connect to asp..." error, was rename the web app folder directory from xpCal to xpCal2. I also tried moving the web app directory to a different directory from C:users\<me>\desktop\ to C:\users\<me>\desktop\new folder and it also worked.
I don't know why it worked, does VS 2010 keep information about web apps seperate from web apps folder.

In my case, when I had the ASP.NET Development Server crash, one thing that worked was to change the port for the project.
I suspect what happened was when the web server crashed it did not release a lock on the port. Even though it was not running in Task Manager, something was blocking a new instance of the web server from starting again on the original port. Changing the port was a decent enough work around. I could have rebooted, but who has time for that, right?
Details: Windows 7 x64, VS2010, .NET Framework 4.0, ASP.NET web site using the built in web server to VS2010.
BTW, I would be a little cautious with replacing the WebDev.WebServerServer.EXE as suggested in other posts. If that file has been corrupted then you have bigger problems with your OS.

hi
Just change the asp.netweb development server port from automatic to a specific port
e.g 8010
That's what worked for me

1) not reflecting HttpContext in class file ?
Answer:-Most of the time when using this syntax in class file is not working
we have to add reference then it work in class file
example using system.web write this syntax in class file
System.Web.HttpContext(HttpContext is not reflecting )
after that i add refrence system web than it reflect

None of the above solutions worked for me, but I did find one that worked: opening up the Administrative Tools/Services window and stopping the "WebClient" service. It's something of a pain to have to disable it when trying to work with my code, but it's easier than the logging off and back on I used to have to do.

--Problem Definition
------ whenever we debug our project (either by pressing ctrl+f5 or only f5) the first .exe which is called by VS is called WebDev.WebServer.EXE which got corrupted may be n number of reasons
--Solution
------ We need to replace this file
------Step 1 ---
go location C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DevServer\9.0
You will find this file
-------Step 2 ---
download WebDev.WebServer.rar file from
http://www.2shared.com/file/11532086/a7f9858a/WebDevWebServer.html
-------Step 3 ---
NOTE : You will need password for extraction this downloaded .rar file
Password : optimusprime
------ Step 4 ---
Copy the downloaded WebDev.WebServer.EXE file and replace in this below path
"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DevServer\9.0
"
--------step 5------
run the program

Go to Run >> type >> cmd >> type
taskkill /IM webdev.webserver20.exe
and then try to re run the program

In my case I was using Windows 8 and Windows Firewall was blocking WebDev.WebServer.EXE
So I went to the settings of Windows Firewall > Allow an app through Windows Firewall > Add new
and browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\DevServer\11.0
Then select WebDev.WebServer to allow.

For some poor souls out there starting using TypeMock on ASP.NET unit tests like me, you need to disable it in Visual Studio to avoid this error: In Tools->Add-in Manager, untick the boxes for TypeMock Isolator. I guess you need to switch this back on for your unit tests.

How to move a ClickOnce deployment package

I have a collection of ClickOnce packages in a publish folder on a network drive and need to move them all to another server (our DR machine).
After copy/pasting the whole directory and running the setups on the new machine I get an error message stating that it cannot find the old path:
Activation of
...MyClickOnceApp.application resulted
in exception. Following failure
messages were detected:
+ Downloading file://oldMachine/c$/MyClickOnceApp.application did not succeed.
+ Could not find a part of the path '\\oldMachine\c$\MyClickOnceApp.application'.
Once I change the installation URL to point at my new machine, I get another error:
Manifest XML signature is not valid.
+ The digital signature of the object did not verify.
I've tried using MageUI.exe, to modify the deployment URL, but it asks for a certificate, which I don't have.
What am I doing wrong and how do I successfully move published ClickOnce packages?

I found a solution:
Firstly, using MageUI, I changed the "Start Location" under "Deployment Options". On saving, it prompted me to sign with a key, which I created there and then. I then ran the setup.exe file, and it worked without fail.
After checking which files had changed, I realised it was only the one file: the application manifest file (myAppName.application). The only things that changed in the file were the deployment provider and the signature (which is what I changed in MageUI).
Once I realised this was how to do it, I used the command line version of MageUI called Mage.exe, which comes with the SDK.
Below is the batch file I created to do all of this on the command line:
REM Set the enviroment
call "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"
REM Update the deployment provider URL
mage -Update %1.application -pu %2
REM Sign the manifest with our key
mage -Sign %1.application -CertFile C:\AppKey.pfx -Password myPw
I can now use this to run against all of my published applications in a quick and easy way. I hope this helps.

Without getting into too much detail, this should get you going.
ClickOnce manifests must be signed with a certificate for security reasons. You can purchase a code signing certificate or generate a test one. The main drawback of a test certificate is that your application publisher will appear as "Unknown" rather than your company's name.
In Visual Studio, open your project's properties and go to the "Signing" tab, select "Sign the ClickOnce manifests", and "Create Test Certificate". Next, click "More Details" to bring up a dialog and click "Install Certificate". This will run you through a wizard to get your test cert in your store. Make sure you put it in the "Personal" store.
Now you can use MageUI to edit your manifests. Any time you save it will prompt you to sign the manifests but you should now be able to select the test cert you just stored. Always edit/sign the application manifest before editing/signing the deployment manifest. This is confusing because the application manifest isn't the file with the .application extension.
Good luck!

I would expect to have to do the following:
Copy current folder contents to new location
For each app:-
Change 'Installation folder' to the new location
Publish as a new version
Change 'Publishing folder' to the new location
Publish as a new version
New setups run from the new folder should work and existing ones should update to look in the correct place.
All this is untested, but I'm pretty sure that's what I did previously...
Edit:
Obviously, you'll have to run these in parallel for a certain amount of time, but as it's an internal app the worst that will happen when you finally switch over to the new location is that you'll have to inform the user of the new location to obtain a 'fixed' app

I believe that you do have a certificate. You need one to create a ClickOnce deployment. Visual Studio may have autocreated a self-signed one for you. I'm not too familiar with the process, hopefully someone with a more definitive answer will chip in. Also, have you tried the MageUI tool, maybe it will be more obvious what you need to do using a GUI.