Duplicate messages in output when building VS 2013 setup project

Question

I have a VS2013 setup project that builds the setup that installs the exes produced by two C# projects. When I build the setup project I get duplicate messages as if there are two build processes. I removed one of the two exes from the output of the setup project but I still get the duplicate messages.

------ Starting pre-build validation for project 'SetupWindowsService' ------ 
------ Starting pre-build validation for project 'SetupWindowsService' ------ 
------ Pre-build validation for project 'SetupWindowsService' completed ------
------ Pre-build validation for project 'SetupWindowsService' completed ------
2>------ Build started: Project: SetupWindowsService, Configuration: Release ------
2>------ Build started: Project: SetupWindowsService, Configuration: Release ------
Building file 'C:\projects\SetupTESTWindowsService\Release\SetupWindowsService.msi'...
Building file 'C:\projects\SetupTESTWindowsService\Release\SetupWindowsService.msi'...
Packaging file 'MoreLinq.dll'...
Packaging file 'MoreLinq.dll'...
Packaging file 'System.Web.Razor.dll'...
Packaging file 'System.Web.Razor.dll'...
................

All the dlls dependencies are duplicated. The output that results from building the project is ok (i.e. the msi file). The TargetPlatform is x86. In the configuration Manager the Active solution platform is Any CPU and the Active solution configuration is Release. All the projects that the setup project depends on are Release/Any CPU.

Is this normal? I am using VS 2013 Premium Update 3 running on Win 7 64 bit Ultimate.

Thanks

Just an update: I opened the vdproj in notepad++ and I removed the Debug configuration under "Configurations". Built the project and there were no duplicate messages anymore. I thought that solved it. Did another rebuild and the duplicates are back.

Answer 1

I think this is a bug in Visual Studio or its build process.

I get the same issue with VS2015; occasionally the IDE will start multiple tasks to build the same setup project. Once it has started doing this, it only gets worse. If I continue, I can get three tasks attempting the same build, and sometimes these tasks interact and cause one of them to fail.

The easiest workaround I've found is to simply exit and reload the entire IDE.

I suspect changing the maximum number of parallel builds in the IDE Tools/ Options/ Projects and Solutions / Build and Run will also work:

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y0xettzf%28v=vs.90%29.aspx