Why does Visual Studio for Mac try to execute .NET MAUI app using Android binary even though target device is an iOS simulator?

Question

I've installed Visual Studio 2022 for Mac and created a .NET MAUI project.

If I start debugging with the Android emulator selected, it starts as expected.

If I switch to an iOS simulator instead, the build works but I get an error saying:

"Can not execute [...]/net6.0-android/MauiSample1.dll. The selected execution mode is not supported for .NET projects."

Notice it says "net6.0-android" in the DLL path...

I tried removing the Android build target in the .csproj file...

<TargetFrameworks>net6.0-ios;net6.0-maccatalyst</TargetFrameworks>

...but that instead gives me a similar error saying:

"Can not execute [...]/net6.0-ios/iossimulator-x64/MauiSample1.exe. The selected execution mode is not supported for .NET projects."

I get a feeling there's something off with what it tries to deploy/start on the iOS simulator?

Screenshot showing iOS simulator is selected, error is at the bottom left:

PS. Funny thing is, I was able to get the app deployed to the iOS simulator from Visual Studio 2022 on Windows, paired to the Mac over the network...

Well my guess is either you don't didn't delete the bin obj and when building its trying to build android still or you need to restart your vs so it knows Android was removed from targets — FreakyAli, Oct 20 '22 at 15:26
Well, I shouldn't need to remove the target, the project _should_ target both iOS and Android. — Ted Nyberg, Oct 20 '22 at 15:36
I'm going to download the 17.4 preview of VS 2022 for Mac to see if that helps. — Ted Nyberg, Oct 20 '22 at 15:48

Ted Nyberg · Answer 1 · 2022-10-20T20:46:47.563

1

Installing Visual Studio for Mac 2022 version 17.4 (as of writing in Preview 4) solved it.

I guess this is why version 17.3 came with a warning about .NET MAUI development not being "officially supported"...

edited Oct 20 '22 at 20:46

answered Oct 20 '22 at 18:33

Ted Nyberg

2

I am getting this behaviour in 17.4.1 – Andy Stannard Dec 15 '22 at 11:15
Same on 17.5.2 Stable and 17.6 Preview. – awattar Mar 22 '23 at 23:15
And same in 17.5.4 – Kapusch May 08 '23 at 20:15
I had the same behavior in 17.5.4, but it's because I tried to run the app in a Release configuration. In a Release configuration, you can run the app by clicking on "Start Without Debugging" under the "Debug" menu tab. – Kapusch May 13 '23 at 08:18
I am running 17.6.3 (build 421) and I am getting the same behavior. This only started for me AFTER I added custom build configurations, however. – William Smith Sep 01 '23 at 12:23

1 Answers1