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visual-studiopathtoolongexception

VisualStudio PathTooLongException

I have run into issues with VisualStudio - both 2017 Pro and 2019 Pro. If I try to open my solution, I get this error:

enter image description here

The error message in VS2019 is a bit different but with the same meaning. As I investigated the ActivityLog file, there is only this node interesting regarding this issue:

<entry>
<record>698</record>
<time>2019/07/03 08:14:00.064</time>
<type>Error</type>
<source>Editor or Editor Extension</source>
<description>System.IO.PathTooLongException: The specified path, file name, or both are too long. The fully qualified file name must be less than 260 characters, and the directory name must be less than 248 characters.&#x000D;&#x000A;
at System.IO.Path.LegacyNormalizePath(String path, Boolean fullCheck, Int32  maxPathLength, Boolean expandShortPaths)&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at System.IO.Path.NormalizePath(String path, Boolean fullCheck, Int32 maxPathLength, Boolean expandShortPaths)&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at System.IO.Path.InternalGetDirectoryName(String path)&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.ErrorListPkg.PathColumnDefinition.GetCachedDirectoryName(ITableEntryHandle entry)&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.ErrorListPkg.PathColumnDefinition.TryCreateStringContent(ITableEntryHandle entry, Boolean truncatedText, Boolean singleColumnView, String&amp; content)&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.TableControl.TableEntryHandleExtensions.TryCreateStringContent(ITableEntryHandle entry, ITableColumnDefinition column, Boolean truncatedText, Boolean singleColumnView, String&amp; content)&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.TableControl.Implementation.TableControl.GenerateFiltersForColumn(UpdateResults results, ITableColumnDefinition columnDefinition)&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.TableControl.Implementation.TableControl.UpdateEntryFilters(UpdateResults results, HashSet`1 variableColumns)&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.TableControl.Implementation.TableControl.UpdateEntries(HashSet`1 variableColumns, Boolean anyColumnChanges, List`1&amp; frozenSinksAwaitingDisposal)&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.TableControl.Implementation.TableControl.&lt;UpdateEntriesAsync&gt;d__182.MoveNext()&#x000D;&#x000A;
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---&#x000D;&#x000A;
   at Microsoft.VisualStudio.Telemetry.WindowsErrorReporting.WatsonReport.GetClrWatsonExceptionInfo(Exception exceptionObject)</description>
</entry>

Is there any way how to figure out exactly what path is wrong? I suspected that SpecFlow addid had been causing this issue. But if I disable this addon, nothing changes.

Another teammate does not have this issue with the same solution.

Solution

  • I somehow got rid of this error message. I don't understand how, but let me share steps I did.

    1. I started removing projects from solution one by one to figure out what project causes the issue.

    2. Once I found the bad one, I reverted all the changes on GIT.

    3. I repeated this approach for files and folders within this project. As I deleted some files and restarted the VS, the problem disappeared.

    4. Again reverted all changes on GIT.

    5. Voila, the error is history in both 2017 and 2019. Nothing changed in SLN or CSPROJ files.