How to fix the system cannot find the file specified in. visual studio twenty twenty two developer command prompt version seventeen point seven six copyright C twenty twenty two Microsoft Corporation build pool

Question

How to fix the system cannot find the file specified in. visual studio twenty twenty two developer command prompt version seventeen point seven six copyright C twenty twenty two Microsoft Corporation build pool

Sahil Dhaliwal 0

I am having a problem downloading the visual studio build tools. Whenever I press launch after downloading, it sends me to the developer command prompt in an unknown application. It gives me the message that the system cannot find the file specified and I do not know what it means or what this application is. If anybody could please help me set this up for unity. Thank you.

Lucas Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-11-15T07:32:38.14+00:00

For anyone else who finds this question...I had the same problem. I installed MSBuild Tools to compile C programs at the command prompt on Windows, but when I launched the Developer Command Prompt for VS2020, the prompt had an error message "cannot find the file specified". Also, when I ran the "cl" command to compile my C program, it didn't recognise the command. Initially I thought it may be an PATH environment variable issue, but then I read that you also need to install the Desktop development with C++ workload from the Visual Studio Build Tools installer to use command line compile for C as well as MSBuild Tools. When I modified the install to include this workload, the "cannot find the file specified" error was resolved and the command prompt recognised the "cl" command and compiled my program.

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Lucas Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-11-15T07:32:38.14+00:00

For anyone else who finds this question...I had the same problem. I installed MSBuild Tools to compile C programs at the command prompt on Windows, but when I launched the Developer Command Prompt for VS2020, the prompt had an error message "cannot find the file specified". Also, when I ran the "cl" command to compile my C program, it didn't recognise the command. Initially I thought it may be an PATH environment variable issue, but then I read that you also need to install the Desktop development with C++ workload from the Visual Studio Build Tools installer to use command line compile for C as well as MSBuild Tools. When I modified the install to include this workload, the "cannot find the file specified" error was resolved and the command prompt recognised the "cl" command and compiled my program.

Answer 1

Hello @Sahil Dhaliwal ,

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

It’s expected that when you click the "Launch" button, Developer Command Prompt for VS 2022 appears and redirects to the directory of "Build Tools".

Build Tools contains compilers and it’s different from other editions of VS IDE. It doesn’t include a UI interface. Generally, running the commands is the correct way to use it, so above behavior is expected. See following screenshot:

User's image

But the error message is not expected, please make sure that you have installed the workloads that you want and open VS Installer, click More, Repair to repair VS Build Tools.

Best Regards,

Tianyu

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Tianyu Sun-MSFT 34,436 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2023-11-08T09:02:33.0366667+00:00

Hi @Sahil Dhaliwal ,

I have not heard from you for a couple of days. Did you successfully launch the Build Tools? If you try to run VS Installer as administrator and then launch the Build Tools will this issue disappear?

Could you share us some screenshots to check further?

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How to fix the system cannot find the file specified in. visual studio twenty twenty two developer command prompt version seventeen point seven six copyright C twenty twenty two Microsoft Corporation build pool

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