cannot start the exe file during debugging

Question

cannot start the exe file during debugging

JJ Z 0

When editing C# code on the Visual Studio platform and starting in either Debug or Release mode, the information as shown in the figure will be prompted. The generated .exe file functions normally, but the VS platform cannot start this .exe program. The verification process is as follows:

The complete folder of this program can be copied to another computer and debugged normally.

This computer can debug other C# projects normally.

Trying to delete the registry, reinstalling VS2019, VS2022 and VS2016 did not solve this problem.

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Varsha Dundigalla(INFOSYS LIMITED) 4,785 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2026-04-08T11:57:57.8433333+00:00
Thank you for reaching out.

At this point, the issue indicates that Visual Studio is successfully building the project and generating the EXE, however it is unable to launch the compiled output during debugging on this specific machine. Since the same EXE runs manually and the project works normally on another system, this points to a project‑specific debug launch or environment configuration issue on this device rather than a problem with the application itself.

To proceed further with investigation, please help share the following details:

Confirmation that OBC.exe is present in the bin\Debug or bin\Release output folder at the time this error appears

Confirmation whether any Windows Defender Controlled Folder Access or third‑party antivirus software is enabled, as this can sometimes block applications when they are launched through Visual Studio (devenv.exe) even though manual execution works normally

A screenshot of Project → Properties → Debug tab

This information will help determine why Visual Studio is unable to start the generated EXE during debugging on this system.