Unexpected Error creating debug information file GG.PDB"--"

Question

When I try to build my project, it returns the following error:

Error 1 Unexpected error creating debug information file 'D:\Documents\Lance\Documents\School\Capstone\GG\GG\obj\Debug\GG.PDB' -- '' GG

I've recently had the misfortune of having my PC restart on me, due to sudden power supply problems (maybe). This is while the project was building, before this problem started.

When the PC came back online I've noticed that the changes I've made to the program prior to the sudden power down was not saved. And, it won't build anymore.

Answer 1

This worked for me:

1. Shut down VS.NET
2. Browse to the project in Windows Explorer
3. Delete the /obj/ folder.
4. Delete the project outputs (.dll and .pdb) from /bin (not sure if this step is necessary)
5. Can't hurt but might help: delete the project outputs from any other project /bin folders in the solution that is having issues (wasn't necessary for me)
6. Restart VS.NET
7. Rebuild

http://weblogs.asp.net/ssmith/archive/2003/08/12/23755.aspx

Answer 2

As requested, my comment as an answer:

---

Try cleaning the solution (under the Build menu in VS).

Since the build was interrupted half-way through by your power failure, the file isn't locked -- the build system is probably just in an inconsistent state (which a Clean Solution should fix).

Answer 3

This happens once in a while in my environment and the problem probably has to do with the PDB file being locked (i.e., I'm guessing the last part of the error message is missing in your post). This is how it looks on my machine:

Unexpected error creating debug information file 'c:\dir\obj\file.PDB' -- 'c:\dir\obj\file.PDB: The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.'

In my case, cleaning the solution does not solve the problem and restarting is an overkill, so I usually just copy the full name of the pdb file (from the error) and execute this on the command line:

ren c:\dir\obj\file.PDB *.old