Visual Studio Installer Project 2022: Red Underlines in File System / The file cannot be installed because the file cannot be found in cabinet file

Question

I am attempting to release the latest version of my program, which builds successfully, but when installed, fails with:

The file '_3D02E5248D5F75EFB5975EFB5976E292CB1EB95' cannot be installed because the file cannot be found in cabinet file '_330F8CF7391BFD00A244D9CF0BC1E0AB'. This could indicate a network error, an error reading from the CD-ROM, or a problem with this package.

I went to View->File System as this has happened before, and usually I can delete the red-underlined files, re-add them, and then it works. But this time, the option to Delete is grayed out:

After much troubleshooting, I eventually decided to delete the Startup Project, create a fresh one from scratch, and readd the files. But at a certain point every time, the red underlines and cabinet error reappear.

I stripped out everything from the Project being packaged, down to a single webpage, and added that to a fresh Setup Project. It too has the undeletable red underlines and the cabinet error.

Strangely enough when I move the Solution to another PC, it has the same undeletable red underlines, but does install successfully. I'd like to go back and try to find a stripped down version that consistently shows both errors, but have already spent an enormous amount of time on this.

Here is the Solution:

https://onedrive.live.com/?redeem=aHR0cHM6Ly8xZHJ2Lm1zL3UvYy8zMDY1YWE2MDFlOTlkMGMwL0VYbGVsdXphMXNwQmdxNkdnZXZpQ2hNQldOa2lIRDh4U0ZUS2tPNjdQbXpqWmc%5FZT1oOENJTVA&cid=3065AA601E99D0C0&id=3065AA601E99D0C0%21sec965e79d6da41ca82ae8681ebe20a13&parId=root&o=OneUp

So my main question is, because this is the reproducible issue, why do the undeletable red underlines appear? I can't find exactly what they are supposed to indicate anywhere.

Any help towards this problem as a whole is appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi @Sean M, 

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A! 

You can see the similar issue and try to reinstall your VS2022. 

Besides, you can double-check the file path, and try to clean and rebuild your solution. 

Sincerely,

Anna

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