Cannot run Windows Azure project due to Error: Unable to find fileDFUI.exe please verify your install is correct

Question

I am getting the following error, whenever I add an existing Asp.Net web application as existing web role project.

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Microsoft Visual Studio Unable to find fileDFUI.exe please verify your install is correct.

OK

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I am using Nov 2011 SDK via WPI. Steps to recreate:

1. Create an empty Azure project (without any role).
2. Add an existing Asp.Net MVC3 project to the solution.
3. Right click on role to "Add an existing web role project in solution" to point to just added project.
4. Rebuild and run to see the error.

Please help.

Answer 1

Credit goes to Carson Wa from Microsoft who answered this one on msdn forums.

The cause of the issue is that visual studio tries to load DFUI.exe from AppData temp directory, i.e. C:\Users\\AppData\Local\assembly\dl3\GPO8L9XL.JW4\X9X8K6MA.13N\139aad8f\00a876bf_fa99cc01\DFUI.exe

DFUI.exe doesn't exist in AppData directory so visual studio reports the error. In SDK 1.5, visual studio reads a registry key to find the correct location. However it looks like that the registry lookup is removed in SDK 1.6.

Currently one of the workarounds is to copy ALL the files under C:\Program Files\Windows Azure Emulator\emulator to the AppData temp directory. Note the temp directory path may be different on your machine. You can find the path by using Process Monitor. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645 Please run process monitor and reproduce the issue in visual studio. Search DFUI.exe in the log and you will find the path.

Thanks,

Carson

Answer 2

Just had the same error...

The Nov 2011 Azure Toolkit seems to check the correct folder (according to the Process Monitor), but you also get this error if you simply have the Azure Deployment project set as the startup project instead of your website.

Good to see you found the problem with the SQL instance name... guess there is more than one way to upset Azure.