title: MSBuild issue on windows server 2012-2 LINK1327 mt.exe error c1010070
body: <p>We have a C++ application using MFC. We also use the manifest that is auto-generated and we actually do use it.
  The environment is windows server 2012 it has TFS 2018 installed on it and a build agent configured. Visual studio 2017 pro 15.6.2 is also installed with all the needed packages for our project.</p>
  
  <p>The weird thing is when I compile the project within visual studio everything is build just fine BUT when I build with the build agent on the same machine there is an error: </p>
  
  <p><code>Generating code 
  All 26621 functions were compiled because no usable IPDB/IOBJ from previous compilation was found.Finished generating code
  C:\_TFS(0,0): Error c1010070: Failed to load and parse the manifest. The system cannot find the file specified.
  C:\_TFS : general error c1010070: Failed to load and parse the manifest. The system cannot find the file specified. [C:\_TFS Build Agents\DEUSRV52\_work\1\s\test\App\HC100\HC100.vcxproj]
  LINK(0,0): Error LNK1327: failure during running mt.exe
  LINK : fatal error LNK1327: failure during running mt.exe [C:\_TFS Build Agents\DEUSRV52\_work\1\s\test\App\HC100\HC100.vcxproj]
  Done Building Project "C:\_TFS Build Agents\DEUSRV52\_work\1\s\test\App\HC100\HC100.vcxproj" (default targets) -- FAILED.
  Done Building Project "C:\_TFS Build Agents\DEUSRV52\_work\1\s\test\App\HC100.sln" (default targets) -- FAILED.
  Build FAILED.
  "C:\_TFS Build Agents\DEUSRV52\_work\1\s\test\App\HC100.sln" (default target) (1) -&gt;
  "C:\_TFS Build Agents\DEUSRV52\_work\1\s\test\App\HC100\HC100.vcxproj" (default target) (4) -&gt;(Link target) -&gt;  C:\_TFS : general error c1010070: Failed to load and parse the manifest. The system cannot find the file specified. [C:\_TFS Build Agents\DEUSRV52\_work\1\s\test\App\HC100\HC100.vcxproj]
    LINK : fatal error LNK1327: failure during running mt.exe [C:\_TFS Build Agents\DEUSRV52\_work\1\s\test\App\HC100\HC100.vcxproj]
      0 Warning(s)
      2 Error(s)
  Time Elapsed 00:02:11.68
  Process 'msbuild.exe' exited with code '1'.</code></p>
  
  <p>Now it says that a certain file cannot be found except that the file is actually there. My guess is that something else might be wrong here.</p>
  
  <p>So I went to the folder where the sources are being placed via the get sources task which is in the agent's folder structure and I then opened the solution with visual studio and build it there and again within visual studio the build is successful.</p>
  
  <p>I've been looking on the internet and I found a couple of solutions such as:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>disable manifest creation in the linker options menu... (this is not a solution for us since we need it)</li>
  <li>mt.exe can't cope with spaces in the file path (strange since when opening the same files in visual studio it does build or is there something different when opening it from VS or building it with an agent?)</li>
  <li>Digital Guardian might restrict execution (we don't have that nor can I see it in procmon)</li>
  <li>A virus scanner might block execution (nothing is installed on the environment)</li>
  <li>when using the Visual studio build step instead of msbuild build step in the TFS build system the build fails with exactly the same error.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I'm pretty sure that it has nothing to do with points 3 and 4 (virus scanners/ security restrictions) since I can build it successfully within the visual studio itself.</p>
  
  <p>I just started to use TFS build for the first time so there is a big chance that I'm missing something here. Hopefully, someone can help me out.</p>
  
  <p>I have asked this question on MSDN forums as well (<a href="https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/587b1c42-8ac6-4deb-95aa-4d74c91fd55f/msbuild-issue-on-windows-server-2012-link1327-mtexe-error-c1010070?forum=Offtopic" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/587b1c42-8ac6-4deb-95aa-4d74c91fd55f/msbuild-issue-on-windows-server-2012-link1327-mtexe-error-c1010070?forum=Offtopic</a>) where I got the suggestion to ask the question here as well.</p>