"The OutputPath property is not set for project" when OutputPath is set

Question

In MVC4, if I create a new build configuration for all projects in a solution, I get the following when building the web .csproj alone:

msbuild Company.Directory.Web.csproj /p:Configuration=Dev

[Error] C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets(483, 9): The OutputPath property is not set for project 'Company.Directory.Web.csproj'. Please check to make sure that you have specified a valid combination of Configuration and Platform for this project. Configuration='Dev' Platform='AnyCPU'. You may be seeing this message because you are trying to build a project without a solution file, and have specified a non-default Configuration or Platform that doesn't exist for this project.

However, the OutputPath property is set!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Dev|AnyCPU'">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRuleSets>false</CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRuleSets>
    <CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRules>false</CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRules>
    <DeployIisAppPath>Port 80/directory/dev</DeployIisAppPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
    <ProductVersion>
    </ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{285FBF79-7933-4AF9-AAAF-25EE7734AAAA}</ProjectGuid>
    <ProjectTypeGuids>{E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47};{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
    <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <RootNamespace>Company.Directory.Web</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>Company.Directory.Web</AssemblyName>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <MvcBuildViews>false</MvcBuildViews>
    <UseIISExpress>true</UseIISExpress>
    <SolutionDir Condition="$(SolutionDir) == '' Or $(SolutionDir) == '*Undefined*'">..\</SolutionDir>
    <RestorePackages>true</RestorePackages>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <!-- ... -->

Is this a bug? How can I fix it?

Answer 1

It turns out that the first PropertyGroup is important. Visual Studio inserted the new configuration (Dev) PropertyGroup before it for some reason. I'm guessing its a bug. I fixed it by moving the new configuration after the others.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
    <ProductVersion>
    </ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{285FBF79-7933-4AF9-AAAF-25EE7734AAAA}</ProjectGuid>
    <ProjectTypeGuids>{E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47};{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
    <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <RootNamespace>Company.Directory.Web</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>Company.Directory.Web</AssemblyName>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <MvcBuildViews>false</MvcBuildViews>
    <UseIISExpress>true</UseIISExpress>
    <SolutionDir Condition="$(SolutionDir) == '' Or $(SolutionDir) == '*Undefined*'">..\</SolutionDir>
    <RestorePacCompanyes>true</RestorePacCompanyes>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Dev|AnyCPU'">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRuleSets>false</CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRuleSets>
    <CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRules>false</CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRules>
    <DeployIisAppPath>Port 80/directory/dev</DeployIisAppPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <!-- ... -->

Answer 2

I had similar error when trying to build from the command line with msbuild.exe. My problem was I was specifying 'Any CPU' when I should have put 'AnyCPU'.

Answer 3

I had similar problem with Azure project. After I added new configuration Release-CLOUD-STAGE into solution, I started to receive the same error:

The OutputPath property is not set for project

After I opened the ccproj file in editor and searched for the new configuration, I saw this near the end of it:

  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Release-CLOUD' ">
    <OutputPath>bin\Release-CLOUD\</OutputPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == 'Release-CLOUD-STAGE' ">
    <OutputPath>bin\Release-CLOUD-STAGE\</OutputPath>
  </PropertyGroup>

everything looked fine to me - existing configuration Release-CLOUD worked well, but new one did not. Turns out that there are TWO PropertyGroup elements in that project file - one - COMPLETE - in the very beginning of the project file:

<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release-CLOUD|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Release-CLOUD\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>

and then for some reason there is another one, SHORT version I showed above, inserted close to the end of the file. After I created proper COMPLETE version of the PropertyGroup element for new Release-CLOUD-STAGE configuration (and removed both SHORT versions) - everything complied.

I'm not sure if that's Azure-specific but I did waste some time on this so I would like to share my findings as well.