VS2017 Pre-Build TF.exe checkout exited with code 3

Question

We have a Pre-Build event which is supposed to check-out our AssemblyInfo.cs file, so that the next Pre-Build event can transform our AssemblyInfo.tt T4 Template and generate a new AssemblyInfo.cs file - this is our assembly versioning solution.

However, the pre-build event commands started failing 'all of a sudden' - they were previously working fine and looking at source control history, no one has changed the commands.

I've taken out the text transform command to eliminate the potential issues.

The only pre-build event there now is:

"$(VS100COMNTOOLS)..\IDE\TF.exe" checkout "$(ProjectDir)Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"

I have turned on 'Diagnostic' level output from the build, and this is what it says:

1>  Task Parameter:Command="..\IDE\TF.exe" checkout "C:\_dev\CCM\Development\SAPN.CCM\SAPN.CCM.Service.Core\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"
1>   (TaskId:18)
1>  "..\IDE\TF.exe" checkout "C:\_dev\CCM\Development\SAPN.CCM\SAPN.CCM.Service.Core\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"
1>   (TaskId:18)
1>  The system cannot find the path specified. (TaskId:18)
1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1274,5): error MSB3073: The command ""..\IDE\TF.exe" checkout "C:\_dev\CCM\Development\SAPN.CCM\SAPN.CCM.Service.Core\Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs"
1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(1274,5): error MSB3073: " exited with code 3.
1>Done executing task "Exec" -- FAILED. (TaskId:18)
1>Done building target "PreBuildEvent" in project "SAPN.CCM.Service.Core.csproj" -- FAILED.: (TargetId:20)

I realise it says "The system cannot find the path specified" but I've checked the path and it is correct.

I have even tried running the TF.exe command directly in the VS Developer Command Prompt like this:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community>TF.exe checkout "C
:\_dev\CCM\Branches\CCA-Service-NoERTinSettings\SAPN.CCM\SAPN.CCM.Service\Proper
ties\AssemblyInfo.cs"

And that succeeds.

Can anyone see what might be causing the Pre-Build event to fail?

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 22 '18 at 06:18

The issue was that the environment variable VS100COMNTOOLS was no loner present on the system.

Upon reflection, this was due to uninstalling VS2010.

I fixed the issue by replacing VS100COMNTOOLS with VS140COMNTOOLS in the PreBuild event, which references the environment variable pointing to the Visual Studio 2015 common tools.

Its a shame this approach is dependent upon a developer having a specific version of Visual Studio installed...if I find a version agnostic solution, I'll update this answer.

VS2017 Pre-Build TF.exe checkout exited with code 3

1 Answers1