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

User · Answer

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 :-)

User · Answer

In vs2012 just try to create a Build definition  Test Build  using the default TFS template   DefaultTemplate    xaml   usually a copy of it   It will fail with the usual self-explaining-error   MSBUILD   error MSB1008  Only one project can be specified Switch  Activities   Off course somewhere in the default TFS template some   are missing so msbuild will receive as parameter a non escaped directory containing spaces so will result in multiple projects      So NEVER use spaces in you TFS  Build Definition names  pretty sad and simple at the same time

User · Answer

For me adding the path to the solution file in double quotes solved the issue  One of the folders in the path had a blank space in the name and this caused it to consider 2 solution files instead of one  I executed in the following was and it worked  MSBuild exe  quot C  Folder Name With Space Project project sln quot

User · Answer

Try to remove the trailing backslash or slash at the end of you publish path and install url   p PublishDir    BSIIS3 c  DATA WEBSITES benesys net benesys net TotalEducationTest   p InstallUrl  https   www benesys net benesys net TotalEducationTest    You must have hit a special sequence of characters with the    and  or      but I don t know enough in cmd exe to figure out   I personnaly always use Powershell   it s way more friendly and powerful   Hope it helps

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If you are using Any CPU you may need to put it in single quotes   Certainly when running in a Dockerfile  I had to use single quotes     Fails  Gives  MSBUILD   error MSB1008  Only one project can be specified  RUN msbuild ConsoleAppFw451 sln  p Configuration Debug  p Platform  Any CPU      Passes  Gives  Successfully built 40163c3e0121 RUN msbuild ConsoleAppFw451 sln  p Configuration Debug  p Platform  Any CPU

User · Answer

If you are using Azure DevOps MSBuild task the error may be caused by doubled configuration flag  Please make sure you put   BuildConfiguration  in specified box instead of MSBuild Arguments one

User · Answer

You need to put qoutes around the path and file name  So use  MSBuild  C  Path Name File Name Exe    Options

User · Answer

This worked for me in TFS MSBuild Argument   Note the number of slashes    p DefaultPackageOutputDir    Rdevnet Visual Studio Projects Insurance

User · Answer

For future readers   I got this error because my specified LOG file had a space in it   BEFORE    l FileLogger Microsoft Build Engine logfile c  Folder With Spaces My Log log   AFTER   which resolved it    l FileLogger Microsoft Build Engine logfile  c  Folder With Spaces My Log log

User · Answer

Just in case someone has the same issue as me  I was missing     before one of the   p  arguments  Not very clear from the description  I hope this helps someone

User · Answer

I was using single quotes around the password parameter when I got the error   p password  my secret  bad   and changed it to use double quotes to resolve the issue     p password  my secret  good   Likely the same would apply to any parameter that needs quotes for values that contain a space

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

If you use default workspace in Jenkins  this might occur  Use custom workspace location without any spaces

User · Answer

I did use solution given in https   www codingdefined com 2014 10 solved-msbuild-error-msb1008-only-one html and that solves the issue  All we need to do is check spaces and    check backslashes  in the command

User · Answer

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

User · Answer

Yet another cause and solution to this  Check that you didn t put a space in the wrong place  i e  in parameters  mine was dotnet -c Release - o  home some path  note the space between - and o   I kept looking at the path itself  which was correct and threw me off  Hope that helps   this was in Bash though it should also apply to Windows

User · Answer

For me I had forgot to add closing quote   p DeployOnBuild true OutDir    build artifactstagingdirectory   to    p DeployOnBuild true OutDir    build artifactstagingdirectory

[visual-studio] MSBUILD : error MSB1008: Only one project can be specified

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