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c++visual-studiogithubdisk-partitioning

VS Community 2013 can't debug project in solution, even though solution builds and runs without issue?

A point to note:

I recently switched to a computer that has a hybrid SSD and HDD setup, since the SSD is small enough that it is best kept for the OS alone.

The Windows partition has 60 GB of space, and access to a 500 GB partition on the HDD.

The problem:

I cloned the project files to a directory using the GitHub windows GUI (I do all version control through the GitHub GUI, rather than using the built in VS functionality).

I was able to build the solution successfully. Then, upon pressing the "Start Debugging (F5)" button, I get the following error: enter image description here

Here are the relevant project properties for the project in question:

enter image description here

What it looks like: it looks like \.\ isn't being parsed properly as "current directory". However, this is very weird given that I don't have any issues with the same project settings on other computers. EDIT: From further explorations (see below), I later found out that its not a parsing error, since VS cannot find the file in general. So, I wonder if it has anything to do with the recent switch to a new computer, and the way hard drives are set up? I think it is unlikely to be a problem with my GitHub workflow, since GitHub does not care about the Debug directory (it is ignored).

What could the issue be?

Things I have made sure of so far:

  • There are no errors in the CodeChain project (i.e. the build is successful without any weird errors):

enter image description here

I thought this might be an issue based on some other "Unable to start program" hits I got on Google, but I am able to rule it out.

  • I reverted changes by deleting the new branch I was working on, and completely cleaning the project from the disk in case it was an obscure error. I then recloned to its earlier last known working state, and got the following. I still get the same error.

  • I know for a fact that the file exists, and I also tried using a different variable to denote the directory where the output is located:

enter image description here

I still get the same error:

enter image description here

Maybe the double slashes are a problem (but they shouldn't be, right?). So I take out the superfluous slash: $(ProjectDir)Debug\. No luck:

enter image description here

  • Surprisingly, the solution as a whole does run, when I select the main project as the startup project!
Solution

  • The project I am trying to open creates a static *.lib file. This cannot be opened and run.

    There is no way the project I was trying to debug was opening on other computers. Rather, I probably had a different startup project selected.

    Indeed, this was the issue. I had forgotten which startup project I needed, and thus was not opening the right one.