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FIX: VCSpawn Fails During Build

Article ID: 327146 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q327146

SYMPTOMS

When you build a program, you may receive the following error message:

----------Configuration: Interfaces - Win32 Debug----------
Cannot start tool. The parameter is incorrect. Error spawning 'vcspawn.exe'. The build could not be performed.

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This problem occurs when a project includes a large number of files that have custom build steps associated with them.

Microsoft Visual C++ uses a temporary file location (defined by your TMP or TEMP environment variables) in which it performs the custom build steps. Also, the compiler tries to perform custom build steps for multiple files at the same time.

If there are many of these files, or the length of the fully qualified path to each of these files is especially long (because of the length of the path to the temporary location), the start of the custom build steps fails.

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RESOLUTION

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Only apply it to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next Visual C++ service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

(http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support)

NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix has the file attributes (or later) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in coordinated universal time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time tool in Control Panel.

   Date          Version      Size        File name
   ------------------------------------------------------
   06-Sep-2002   6.0.9689.0   1,171,508   Devbld.pkg
   06-Sep-2002   6.0.9689.0   1,347,632   Devshl.dll  
   06-Sep-2002   6.0.9689.2     278,575   Msdev.exe

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WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, do one of the following:

Change your TMP environment variable to point to a location that has a shorter path.

-or-
Export a make file for your project, and then build the project from the command line by using NMAKE.

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