Unrecoverable build error - whilst trying to build setup on VS2015

Question

My build fails every time when I try and build my setup project. The error in the output window is just:

ERROR: Unrecoverable build error

What I have tried already

Restarting my computer and Visual Studio
Registering ole32.dll
Clean and rebuild all
Deleting bin and obj folders
Removing temporary files with VS in the name in \AppData\LocalTemp
Running Visual Studio as an administrator
Pausing the real time protection on my antivirus
Deleting the temporary file that the setup build leaves in there.
Running the process monitor during the build.
Checking if my project contains duplicate folder names (it does not).

Note: Similar question but not the same as it is for a much earlier version of Visual Studio:

score 19 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 06 '17 at 14:48

19

The problem was solved by registering mergemod.dll.

On my computer it is located at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSI Tools

You need to run regsvr32 with administrative privileges to get it to work.

answered Mar 06 '17 at 14:48

user2882061

363
2
9

1

That did the trick for me too. This answer should get more visibility. Thanks! – Raheel Khan Nov 22 '17 at 07:35
This worked for me, but needed to run VS as admin afterwards to get past other errors (possibly unrelated) – n00b Mar 23 '18 at 18:22
I've just experienced this problem building a setup merge module using the latest VS 2019 16.7 preview 1. After registering mergemod.dll I had to close/restart VS before the problem was solved. – David Lowndes May 27 '20 at 20:01
It work for me after 5 year, many thanks – Nguyên Ngô Duy Jul 20 '23 at 07:29

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 21 '18 at 14:31

I had to do one additional step on top of the accepted answer:

Register the DLL mergemod.dll (regsvr32.exe C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\MSI Tools\mergemod.dll)
Register the DLL ole32.dll (regsvr32.exe ole32.dll)
Delete the cache/temporary visual studio files – which get generated as part of the builds. (C:\users{BUILD_USER}\appdata\local\temp).

Hope that helps!

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 13 '17 at 08:55

0

Reinstall (Repair) Visual Studio resolved the problem for me. I've had installed a new software for creating setup programs and it damaged some setup msm files. The easiest mode to repair it was to reinstall VS.

answered Mar 13 '17 at 08:55

Tratak

138
1
9

score -1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 26 '23 at 15:26

-1

Running VS2017 in Admin mode solved my problem.

answered Jan 26 '23 at 15:26

Kai Wang

3,303
1
31
27

Unrecoverable build error - whilst trying to build setup on VS2015

4 Answers4

Linked