Why are my binaries not placed in the /bin/release folder when I build a Windows Service in C#?

Rob picture Rob · Feb 8, 2011 · Viewed 34.1k times · Source

I am new to C# and VS 2010, and am following an online guide to creating a C# Windows Service in Visual Studio 2010.

When I try and build the application however, I don't get any files created under the /bin/release folder.

I do get files under the /bin/Debug folder.

I have tried all the build configurations e.g Active, DEBUG, Release, All but nothing changes.

I have tried closing the solution down and restarting etc.

I have also experienced this same problem on a number of other projects which have been C# console apps.

The /bin/release folder exists (as I had to create it by hand) and I have checked the output path in the properties tab to ensure the release configuration is targeted to that folder.

I asked our "C# guru" at work and he didn't have a clue. Does anyone know what could be causing this?

Answer

Shekhar_Pro picture Shekhar_Pro · Feb 8, 2011

Most likely, you are only configuring the Release build, not actually building the project in Release mode.

Simply select "Release" mode from the drop down box in the toolbar, as shown in pic below:

enter image description here

or you can do the same thing from your project's Properties:

enter image description here

Then when you will build the project (Ctrl+Shift+B), it will build in Release mode and place the output in the folder you have configured in Project properties. (Usually this is bin/release.)

If you still don't see files in the release folder then as suggested by Gishu in the comments, check the Output Window while the build is in progress to see where the binaries are actually being created.