Visual Studio Post Build Event MT.exe command fails with code 9009

Question

Hi I am running following command from my post build event:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin\mt.exe -manifest "$(ProjectDir)$(TargetName).exe.manifest" -updateresource:"$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).exe;#1"

It is failing with Exited with code 9009... I don't understand why this happens; any suggestions?

Answer 1

Exit code 9009 is a file not found error. The spaces that exist in your path to the post build command cause errors in a command prompt unless you include quotes around the entire path and executable name. Essentially, in your post-build command, it is trying to execute C:\Program with the arguments:

• Files\Microsoft
• SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin\mt.exe
• -manifest "$(ProjectDir)$(TargetName).exe.manifest"
• -updateresource:"$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).exe;#1"

Since obviously you don't have a file called Program residing in your root directory, this entire command fails. Encapsulating the path and executable in quotes will cause the entire expression to be evaluated as a single command, so everything should work fine if you change the post-build command to:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin\mt.exe" -manifest "$(ProjectDir)$(TargetName).exe.manifest" -updateresource:"$(TargetDir)$(TargetName).exe;#1"

Or use for VisualStudio x86 in Windows x64

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\bin\mt.exe"