Temp path too long when publishing a web site project

Question

I am trying to publish an ASP.NET web site project using the Publish Web Site tool but get this error:

ASPNETCOMPILER(0,0): Error ASPRUNTIME: The specified path, file name, or both are too long. The fully qualified file name must be less than 260 characters, and the directory name must be less than 248 characters.

I see that it is trying to copy the files to a very long path in AppData:

Copying all files to temporary location below for package/publish:

C:\Users\imx0\AppData\Local\Temp\1\WebSitePublish\BMW.Web-424993535\obj\Debug\AspnetCompileMerge\Source.

c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_compiler.exe -v /BMW.Web -p C:\Users\imx0\AppData\Local\Temp\1\WebSitePublish\BMW.Web-424993535\obj\Debug\AspnetCompileMerge\Source C:\Users\imx0\AppData\Local\Temp\1\WebSitePublish\BMW.Web-424993535\obj\Debug\AspnetCompileMerge\TempBuildDir

I couldn't find anything about this temp directory in my .pubxml publish profile. How can I change the temporary directory that Visual Studio copies the files to?

Answer 1

Add this to your publish profile to modify the temporary directory for package/publish:

<AspnetCompileMergeIntermediateOutputPath>c:\shortPath\</AspnetCompileMergeIntermediateOutputPath>