“the outputpath property is not set for this project” error

Question

I have a multi project solution in Visual Studio 2008. I just added a new Configuration called Release-VersionIncrement to the solution, specifying \"use release\" configura

Answer 1

In our case we were running a build script on our HP developer boxes. HP have some environment variables they've set up for their own purposes and one of them is PLATFORM (used, apparently, for "HP Easy Setup").

Deleting the PLATFORM environment variable worked.

You could also future-proof your build script by specifying the platform, i.e.
msbuild /p:Platform=AnyCPU.

Answer 2

As Scott S, I've had to delete the "Platform" environment variable.

Then restart VS, and it's ok : no more error message...

Answer 3

In my case, I tried to move the property group that contained my custom configuration down below the standard ones. It solved it for me.

Answer 4

As was said, OutputPath must be set AND it must be placed before <Import Project="$(WixTargetsPath)" /> in .wixproj file

Answer 5

I strugged with this for a while and then also unloaded, built, and then reloaded the offending project in the solution, and then MSBuild functioned correctly.

Answer 6

Usually this happens when the OutputPath property of the project file is blank. Project files are just MSBuild files. To edit in Visual Studio: Right click on the project, pick "Unload project" then right click on the unloaded project and select "Edit ...".

Look for the Release-Versionincrement property group. It should look something like

<PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release-VersionIncrement|AnyCPU' ">
  <OutputPath>bin\Release-VersionIncrement\</OutputPath>
  <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
  <Optimize>true</Optimize>
  <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
  <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
  <CodeAnalysisUseTypeNameInSuppression>true</CodeAnalysisUseTypeNameInSuppression>
  <CodeAnalysisModuleSuppressionsFile>GlobalSuppressions.cs</CodeAnalysisModuleSuppressionsFile>
  <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
</PropertyGroup>

The important one there it the OutputPath, does it exist for your project file? If not add it and try again.