Metadata file … could not be found error when building projects

Question

Every time I start Visual Studio 2008, the first time I try to run the project I get the error CS0006 The metadata file ... could not be found. If I do a rebuild of the comp

Answer 1

If you use LinqtoSQL Data contexts, for instance, and the .designer.cs file is missing, you will get the Metadata file could not be found error.

Recreating the designer.cs file is easy.

Open up the dbml using xml view. Add a blank line, then remove it, then save. That should regenerate your designer.cs file.

Under some circumstances, if you have code inside your data context's code-behind, this work around will not work. In this case, take the code out of the code behind and put it in notepad or something. Do the trick of adding then removing a line from the DC and save. Now put the code back and save.