msbuild ASPNETCOMPILER ASPNETRUNTIME startIndex error

Question

I have a web project that builds fine on Windows 7 with no error. When I upgraded to Windows 8, compiling the project into a compiled website throws an error. Compiling from the csproj file (not creating a website) works fine. This is the actual error that is thrown by msbuild

ASPNETCOMPILER : error ASPRUNTIME: startIndex cannot be larger than length of string. [mycsproj.file.here]

The line that msbuild is running that is throwing the error is

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_compiler.exe -v / -p my.physical.project.path -u my.physical.project.path\buildartifacts\CompiledWebsite

I was able to get a stack trace as well from running the aspnet_compiler with the -errorstack tag and this is what it generated

[ArgumentOutOfRangeException]: startIndex cannot be larger than length of string.
Parameter name: startIndex
    at System.String.InternalSubStringWithChecks(Int32 startIndex, Int32 length, Boolean fAlwaysCopy)
    at System.Web.Compilation.DiskBuildResultCache.MarkAssemblyAndRelatedFilesForDeletion(String assemblyName)
    at System.Web.Compilation.DiskBuildResultCache.CacheBuildResult(String cacheKey, BuildResult result, Int64 hashCode, DateTime utcStart)
    at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CacheBuildResultInternal(String cacheKey, BuildResult result, Int64 hashCode, DateTime utcStart)
    at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.CacheAssemblyResults(AssemblyBuilder assemblyBuilder, CompilerResults results)
    at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.CompileAssemblyBuilder(AssemblyBuilder builder)
    at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.<CompileNonDependentBuildProviders>b__0(AssemblyBuilder assemblyBuilder)
    at System.Web.Compilation.CompilationUtil.CompileParallel(ICollection assemblyBuilders, Action`1 action)
    at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.CompileNonDependentBuildProviders(ICollection buildProviders)
    at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.Process()
    at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.BatchCompileWebDirectoryInternal(VirtualDirectory vdir, Boolean ignoreErrors)
    at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.BatchCompileWebDirectory(VirtualDirectory vdir, VirtualPath virtualDir, Boolean ignoreErrors)
    at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileWebDirectoriesRecursive(VirtualDirectory vdir, Boolean topLevel)
    at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileAppInternal(VirtualPath startingVirtualDir, IEnumerable`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
    at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileApp(VirtualPath startingVirtualDir, IEnumerable`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
    at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileApp(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback, IEnumerable`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
    at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManagerHost.PrecompileApp(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback, List`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
    at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManagerHost.PrecompileApp(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback, List`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
    at System.Web.Compilation.ClientBuildManager.PrecompileApplication(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback, Boolean forceCleanBuild)
    at System.Web.Compilation.ClientBuildManager.PrecompileApplication(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback)
    at System.Web.Compilation.Precompiler.Main(String[] args)

How do I fix this? I assume it has something to do with the assembly name due to the stack trace, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what to do to fix it. Could someone help me out?

Jelly

Did you find a resolution? I'm having a similar problem. – Swelter

It had to do with some custom compilation targets in my solution. Because the run time for .net 4.0 was replaced by 4.5 in win8 then it had some issues initially. It seems to be fine now, I assume that some updates to the framework corrected the issue. Try removing any custom targets from your solution and see if that works. – Jelly

In our case, an .ashx file was somehow the cause. I removed the markup for the handler and added it to the web.config as a workaround. – Swelter

Answer 1

Run "Clean" followed by "Rebuild" using Visual Studio. This fixed the problem for me.

Sequential

Did not fix it for me: Error 46 startIndex cannot be larger than the length of the character array ASPNETCOMPILER 0 0 – Mervin

Fixed for me. I had to also do an IISReset – Dulcia