mt.exe : general error c101008d: Failed to write the updated manifest to the resource of file ... Access is denied

Question

I often have this problem even when I build a new C++ project and try to build a release file.

I use Visual studio 2008. One thing that may cause this problem is my code is saved on the server disk, not on local hard disk.

mt.exe : general error c101008d: Failed to write the updated manifest to the resource of file "..\Release\PGTS_version17C.exe". The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process.

Anyone know how to solve this? Thanks.

Abdicate

Answer 1

If you are embedding a manifest file, your anti-virus program may lock and scan your exe file before embedding the manifest.

I recommend disabling anti-virus from reading your DEBUG and RELEASE output folders.

Ly

For the sake of completeness symantec.com/business/support/… – Incoherence

You are a lifesaver! +1, that helped me out a lot. – Overdevelop

Even WindowsDefender seems to stay in this way. – Singh

I added the folders to the list of exclusions, tenforums.com/tutorials/… – Dynameter

In case you have Windows Defender, use these steps and turn off Real-time Protection: wisecleaner.com/how-to/… – Dodgson

Answer 2

Go to Debug and/or Release folder(s), right click and unset, recursively, the Read-Only property.

Found this tip in the MSDN Community and solved my problem!

Loment

This is exactly what I needed. – Hsinking

That wasnt the problem, as the error still occurred. It appears to be some intermittent issue - sometimes the compile works, sometimes it doesn't ... showed up once system was upgraded to Windows 10 (with whatever payload my company used along with that image). Never an issue under my old Windows 7 system. – Nard

Answer 3

It it's not a permissions or actual file access problem (AV)...

You can add a flag to make the compiler check the validity of the manifest.

This validation will fix the problem so you'll never have to rebuild it again.
This is very important for anyone who's running an actual Build-Machine or automatic buildscript where you don't want to manually interfere:

Add this flag:
Project properties -> Configuration Properties -> Manifest Tool -> Command Line -> Additional options:

/validate_manifest

Inerney

That solved my issue. Typically a Build-Machine or automatic buildscript as you said. – Instigation

Answer 4

Funny enough I had the exact same error and a "rebuild" on the whole project solved it.

Revet

Answer 5

disabling the Anti-Virus worked for me.

Opportina

Any particular brand of Antivirus? – Jae

If avast antivirus is installed, then this issue occures. – Compete

Answer 6

If you need not generate Manifest file, just set it off it will resolve the problem.

Goto Project(right click)

properties

Linker

Manifest Files

Generate Manifest

change it Yes to No

It resolve the problem for me on VS2008 without disabling Anti-virus. ;)

Enjoy :)

Battista

Worked for me on VS2010 as well – Etom

Answer 7

Open visual studio 2010 as "Run as administrator" and Rebuild again.

Chamade

Answer 8

I worked around this with a "wrapper" program for mt.exe, one that reran it until it succeeded. Save the following code as mt-wrapper.cpp:

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <process.h>

// Build from a Visual Studio Command Prompt with "cl /O2 /Gy /Femt.exe mt-wrapper.cpp"

int __cdecl wmain(int argc, WCHAR **argv, WCHAR **env)
{
    // Stop outputting text.
    fclose(stdout);
    fclose(stderr);

    // Run the original mt.exe, which has been renamed to mt-orig.exe .
    for (;;)
    {
        // Try to run the original mt.
        intptr_t iStatus = _wspawnve(_P_WAIT, L"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft SDKs\\Windows\\v7.0A\\Bin\\mt-orig.exe", argv + 1, env);
        if (iStatus == 0)
            break;

        // Try again, after a short wait.
        ::Sleep(100);
    }

    return 0;
}

Build this program, go to your C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin folder, rename the old mt.exe to mt-orig.exe (and the mt.exe.config to mt-orig.exe.config), and put this wrapper program in there as mt.exe. Now, when you build, it will retry running the original mt.exe until it succeeds.

Oddly, MSBuild doesn't seem to check for a zero status when deciding that mt.exe has succeeded — it seems to look for error messages written to stdout/stderr. So this program closes both of those before spawning the original mt.exe. Anyone feeling industrious can apply the advice found here to save the output of the successful run of the original mt.exe, and output it to stdout/stderr.

Stavros

I have used your code as base for project on github. Hope you won't mind. – Shingly

@ElDorado: Of course I don't mind! Thanks for the compliment! – Stavros

Thank you for this solution! Note: with Windows 10 / VS 2019 I had to change the path to: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Windows Kits\\10\\bin\\10.0.19041.0\\x86\\mt-orig.exe There is also a parallel file: ...\\x64\\mt-orig.exe Now my compilation is stuck on: Embedding manifest... From this I gather that your code works as intended, but doesn't solve the problem in my case. – Stiegler

Answer 9

Try this:

1. Disable AV
2. Temporary rename your exe so it doesn't contain any of the words UAC magic words (install, setup, patch, upgrade)
3. make sure you have write permissions
4. use mt command to inject the manifest
5. rename back your exe

Labarum

Answer 10

In my case none of the suggestions presented here worked. I am using Ninja build with VS 2019, and build fails randomly in only Jenkins. Disable manifest is not an option in our case. As a workaround I disable manifest during link stage, however added a custom target with POST_BUILD step to embed manifest using mt.exe.

disable manifest during link stage

target_link_options(target_name PRIVATE /MANIFEST:NO)

add post build step. change #1 (used for exe) to #2 if using dll

add_custom_command(TARGET target_name POST_BUILD
                COMMAND mt.exe -manifest manifest_file -outputresource:$<TARGET_FILE:target_name>;#1
                COMMENT "Adding custom manifest on target_name" 
                VERBATIM)

With above workaround no failure in Jenkins server now.

Spermatium

Answer 11

If you're using Hudson/Jenkins to create releases restarting it solved the problem for me.

Cowl

Answer 12

I solved this error by stopping and disabling the 'Timing Service' (part of FireEye)

Stapleton

Answer 13

If your project is stored in Dropbox, you have to quit Dropbox to build. This is also an issue when using Unreal Engine.

Cini

If this is an already known issue, could you maybe provide a link to where it is documented? – Shovel

I dont know if this is officially documented anywhere; but I found out by asking on an Unreal Engine facebook group, and got this tip from someone. Dropbox makes for some strange behaviour when saving, not sure exactly what. I only use github now. – Cini

Answer 14

I had the same issue. And disabling the anti-virus solution was not an option because Company policy mandated that anti-virus solutions could not be disabled. And Company policy did not allow to specify an exception folder for the anti-virus scan. But I found that every time I build the solution(not rebuild) the binary files(dlls or exes) locked by anti virus solution changed. So after trying to build the solution 10 or more times I finally succeeded in building the whole solution. Just try to build the solution many times after first time rebuild.

Nonoccurrence