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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-10T15:29:36+00:00

In MVC4, if I create a new build configuration for all projects in a

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In MVC4, if I create a new build configuration for all projects in a solution, I get the following when building the web .csproj alone:

msbuild Company.Directory.Web.csproj /p:Configuration=Dev

[Error]
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\Microsoft.Common.targets(483,
9): The OutputPath property is not set for project
‘Company.Directory.Web.csproj’. Please check to make sure that you
have specified a valid combination of Configuration and Platform for
this project. Configuration=’Dev’ Platform=’AnyCPU’. You may be
seeing this message because you are trying to build a project without
a solution file, and have specified a non-default Configuration or
Platform that doesn’t exist for this project.

However, the OutputPath property is set!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Dev|AnyCPU'">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRuleSets>false</CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRuleSets>
    <CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRules>false</CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRules>
    <DeployIisAppPath>Port 80/directory/dev</DeployIisAppPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
    <ProductVersion>
    </ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{285FBF79-7933-4AF9-AAAF-25EE7734AAAA}</ProjectGuid>
    <ProjectTypeGuids>{E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47};{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
    <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <RootNamespace>Company.Directory.Web</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>Company.Directory.Web</AssemblyName>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <MvcBuildViews>false</MvcBuildViews>
    <UseIISExpress>true</UseIISExpress>
    <SolutionDir Condition="$(SolutionDir) == '' Or $(SolutionDir) == '*Undefined*'">..\</SolutionDir>
    <RestorePackages>true</RestorePackages>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <!-- ... -->

Is this a bug? How can I fix it?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    It turns out that the first PropertyGroup is important. Visual Studio inserted the new configuration (Dev) PropertyGroup before it for some reason. I’m guessing its a bug. I fixed it by moving the new configuration after the others.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">AnyCPU</Platform>
    <ProductVersion>
    </ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{285FBF79-7933-4AF9-AAAF-25EE7734AAAA}</ProjectGuid>
    <ProjectTypeGuids>{E3E379DF-F4C6-4180-9B81-6769533ABE47};{349c5851-65df-11da-9384-00065b846f21};{fae04ec0-301f-11d3-bf4b-00c04f79efbc}</ProjectTypeGuids>
    <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <RootNamespace>Company.Directory.Web</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>Company.Directory.Web</AssemblyName>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.0</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <MvcBuildViews>false</MvcBuildViews>
    <UseIISExpress>true</UseIISExpress>
    <SolutionDir Condition="$(SolutionDir) == '' Or $(SolutionDir) == '*Undefined*'">..\</SolutionDir>
    <RestorePacCompanyes>true</RestorePacCompanyes>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Dev|AnyCPU'">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <OutputPath>bin\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRuleSets>false</CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRuleSets>
    <CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRules>false</CodeAnalysisIgnoreBuiltInRules>
    <DeployIisAppPath>Port 80/directory/dev</DeployIisAppPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <!-- ... -->
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