Well, I just setup a new window11 and installed Unreal 5.2 and 5.3 from gitHub. They both throw out “Cannot write to output file” error:
F:\Unreals\UnrealEngine-5.2\Engine\Binaries\ThirdParty\DotNet\6.0.302\windows\sdk\6.0.302\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(3262,5): error MSB3554: Cannot write to the output file “F:\Unreals\UnrealEngine-5.2\Engine\Source\Programs\AutomationTool\IOS\obj\Development\IOS.Automation.Properties.Resources.resources”. Could not find a part of the path 'F:\Unreals\UnrealEngine-5.2\Engine\Source\Programs\AutomationTool\IOS\Properties'. (F:\Unreals\UnrealEngine-5.2\Engine\Source\Programs\AutomationTool\IOS\IOS.Automation.csproj)
Failed to build: F:\Unreals\UnrealEngine-5.2\Engine\Source\Programs\AutomationTool\IOS\IOS.Automation.csproj
Failed to build: F:\Unreals\UnrealEngine-5.2\Engine\Source\Programs\AutomationTool\TVOS\TVOS.Automation.csproj
Build projects time: 2.49 s
I did try running both version of editor with ‘Run as Admin’ and turning off all my firewall and Window Defender but they still threw out the same error.
However, if i installed the non-source built one from epic launcher, everything works fine.
I’m at my wit’s end now. Does anyone has the same issue or know how to fix this?
It looks like the important part is: Could not find a part of the path 'F:\Unreals\UnrealEngine-5.2\Engine\Source\Programs\AutomationTool\IOS\Properties'
Does that path exist? It should. If not, make it.
Is it writable by your user? It should be.
Is the disk full? It shouldn’t be.
Are you using some anti-virus? You shouldn’t be, at least for build locations.
Is the drive a mapped network drive? It should be local.
I verified all the path and what not. Even created a faked missing files with admin right to test it. Nothing worked.
I thought I found the error in source code, but instead it was my fake files interfered with the build. (I put backup file in the wrong place.) So I’m back to square one, still can’t write to output file with source UE5. I think it’s something to do with running gitHub software with Window11 Security.
To recap:
I’m on admin account.
I turned off all window defender, firewall and anti-virus, as well as folder protection.
I added exclusion to all .exe.
All files are set to not-read only.
All files are on local drive.
Non-source build UE is in the same directories, and it works fine.
One clue that I found was that when I ran RunUAT from source built, it will try to build AutomationTool and fail writing to file. (none-souce built RunUAT didn’t try rebuilding AutomationTool, it will just start.) I already compile AutomationTool successfully in VS though, so I don’t get why it has to try building it again…
No idea. Maybe some part of the tool chain doesn’t like names with dashes in them?
At this point, you have to break out the debugger, and search for the code that prints that error, and figure out why it would fail in this case.