Error message when you use "Start Without Debugging" mode: "The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect" (315472)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (2002)
  • Microsoft Visual C# .NET (2002)
  • Microsoft Visual J# .NET (2002)
This article was previously published under Q315472

SYMPTOMS

When you start your project in the Visual Studio .NET development environment in Start Without Debugging mode, the project may fail to run, and then it returns an error message similar to the following:
Error while trying to run project: Unable to start debugging.

Unable to start program 'C:\Documents and Settings\currentuser\My Documents\Visual Studio Projects\???\bin\Debug\???.exe'.

The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.
The question marks in this error message may appear as boxes or questions marks, depending on whether the code page for the language used in the project name is installed. If the code page is installed, the question marks appear as actual characters.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs when the project name contains characters that do not match the user locale and user interface (UI) language settings of your computer's operating system. For example, this behavior occurs if the project name contains characters from the Russian code page, and the user locale and UI language settings are set to English.

If you install the code page for the given character set, this may affect the information displayed in the error message, but it does not resolve the underlying problem.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, make sure that the user locale and the UI language settings are the same, and that they match the locale of the characters that compose the project name.

To set the user locale on a Microsoft Windows 2000-based computer, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Regional Options.
  2. Click the General tab, and then under Settings for the current user, select the locale that you want in the Your locale (location) list.
To set the UI language on a Windows 2000-based computer, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Regional Options.
  2. Click the General tab, and then under Language settings for the system, click to select the check box (or check boxes) next to the language (or languages) that you want to install.
To set the user locale on a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer, follow these steps (using the Classic Start menu):
  1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Regional and Language Options.
  2. Click the Regional Options tab, and then in the Standards and formats section, select the location that you want in the list to the left of Customize.
To set the UI language on a Windows XP-based computer, follow these steps (using the Classic Start menu):
  1. Click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click Regional and Language Options.
  2. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Language for non-Unicode programs, select the language that you want in the accompanying list.

STATUS

This bug was corrected in Visual Basic .NET (2003), Visual C# .NET (2003), and Visual J# .NET.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

  1. Create a new Windows application in Visual C# or Visual Basic .NET.
  2. Change the default name of the project to something in Unicode. (To obtain alternative code page characters, start Windows Explorer, click Start, point to Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Character Map.)
  3. Press F5 to build and run the project.

    The application runs with no errors. Stop the application.
  4. Now try running the application by pressing CTRL+F5 (start without debugging).

    The application returns the error message described in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

REFERENCES

For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

258047 INFO: Which Locale Determines How My Application Is Presented?

Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:1/26/2006
Keywords:kbvs2005swept kbvs2005doesnotapply kbfix kberrmsg kbpending KB315472 kbAudDeveloper
©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.