MSBUILD : error MSB1008: Only one project can be specified

Question

Why am I getting the following Build error?

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\msbuild.exe C:\Code\EduBenesysNET\EduBenesysNET\EduBenesysNET.vbproj /t:publish /p:Configuration=Release /p:Platform=AnyCPU /v:detailed /p:PublishDir="\\BSIIS3\c$\DATA\WEBSITES\benesys.net\benesys.net\TotalEducationTest\"  /p:InstallUrl="https://www.benesys.net/benesys.net/TotalEducationTest/"  /p:ApplicationVersion=1.0.1.198  /p:ProductName="Total Education TEST"   /p:PublisherName="BeneSys, Inc."  /p:UpdateRequired="True"  /p:MinimumRequiredVersion=1.0.1.198
Microsoft (R) Build Engine Version 3.5.30729.1
[Microsoft .NET Framework, Version 2.0.50727.3603]
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 2007. All rights reserved.

MSBUILD : error MSB1008: Only one project can be specified.
Switch: Education

For switch syntax, type "MSBuild /help"

I do not see how a second project is being specified.
Is it stored in a project file somewhere?

Solution 1

SOLUTION
Remove the Quotes around the /p:PublishDir setting

i.e.
Instead of quotes

/p:PublishDir="\\BSIIS3\c$\DATA\WEBSITES\benesys.net\benesys.net\TotalEducationTest\"  

Use no quotes

/p:PublishDir=\\BSIIS3\c$\DATA\WEBSITES\benesys.net\benesys.net\TotalEducationTest\  

I am sorry I did not post my finding sooner. I actually had to research again to see what needed to be changed. Who would have thought removing quotes would have worked? I discovered this when viewing a coworkers build for another solution and noticed it did not have quotes.

Solution 2

It turns out the trailing slash in the PublishDir property is escaping the end quote. Escaping the trailing slash solved my problem.

/p:PublishDir="\\BSIIS3\c$\DATA\WEBSITES\benesys.net\benesys.net\TotalEducationTest\\"

This way we can use quotes for paths that have whitespace in properties that MSBuild requires the trailing slash.

I know this is an old post, but I feel like I needed to share this with someone :-)

Solution 3

On Git Bash I had to specify the parameters with double slashes like:

MSBuild.exe "Path\to\Solution.sln" //p:Platform="x86" //p:Configuration=Release //p:AppxBundlePlatforms="x86" 

Solution 4

This problem appears when you have a path or a property containing a space and that is not quoted.

All your properties and path have quote around them, it's strange. The error message indicates Education as a switch, try to remove /p:ProductName="Total Education TEST" to see if it works.

Solution 5

You need to put qoutes around the path and file name.
So use MSBuild "C:\Path Name\File Name.Exe" /[Options]

View more solutions

Comments

[Cédric Rup]

The very same command works in powershell but not in cmd.exe... looks like you are hitting a spacial character sequance somewhere...

[user3103701]

This is very strange. In my case I got the same error but the problem is that I had an unquoted path with a space in it. Adding the quotes fixed the problem.

[Gopinath]

Avoid Space in folder path to get rid of this issue.

[Zitrax]

I had the same issue as @MarkArnott, it did not work with spaces or escaped spaces, but quoting did.

[Carl G]

Probably the last backslash in your path was escaping the closing double-quote. If correct, then you didn't need to remove the double-quotes, but instead you needed to escape your backslashes.

[theMayer]

This answer could use some tidying up. Very difficult to follow.

[Valentein]

The point about Never using spaced in your TFS Build Definition names is a good one! This has caught me multiple times.

[Nevin Raj Victor]

@Julien Hoarau: I tried MSBuild.exe C:\BuildAgent\work\4c7b8ac8bc7d723e\WebService.sln /p:Configuration=Release /p:OutputPath=bin /p:DeployOnBuild=True /p:DeployTarget=MSDeployPublish /p:MsDeployServiceUrl=https://204.158.674.5/msdeploy.axd /p:username=Admin /p:password=Password#321 /p:AllowUntrustedCertificate=True /p:DeployIisAppPath=Default WebSite/New /p:MSDeployPublishMethod=WMSVC. It gives me an error MSBUILD : error MSB1008: Only one project can be specified. Switch: WebSite/New. What might be the issue?

[OK999]

Remember, the spaces in dir path needs to be escaped or have to be placed inside a double quotes

[habib]

I was also missing closing double quotes.

[Anderson Pimentel]

@NevinRajVictor A lot late, but probably you should put quotes around Default WebSite/New

[Wolfium]

Look like this is the root cause, related on how Git_Bash works on POSIX path starting with a slash putting in the mix the windows style paths Double slashes solve or you can disable automatic path conversion to keep interoperability history: mingw.org/wiki/Posix_path_conversion Release notes github.com/git-for-windows/build-extra/blob/…

[parched]

Alternatively, you can use -p instead of /p.