UE 5.6 project creation fails on Default.rc2 / rc.exe — exit code -1

Agraellah
Mon, 07 Jul 2025 18:23:04 +0000
Feedback & Requests

Hey folks,

I’m running into a blocking issue when creating a new C++ project in Unreal Engine 5.6.
The project fails to compile during creation (at about 2% progress) with the following error:

[1/48] Resource Default.rc2
Resource Default.rc2: Exited with error code -1. The build will fail.
rc.exe command:
.../Windows Kits/10/bin/10.0.22621.0/x64/rc.exe ... "../Build/Windows/Resources/Default.rc2"

Then it ends with:

Result: Failed (OtherCompilationError)

Some key details:

The failure happens during project creation, not after — specifically during the initial compilation step.

I’m on Windows 11 with Visual Studio 2022 (v14.38.33145) and Windows SDK 10.0.22621.0

I’ve completely uninstalled and reinstalled Visual Studio, manually cleaned registry leftovers, and reinstalled the full C++ toolchain, MSBuild, and SDKs

I also fully reinstalled Unreal Engine 5.6

I manually tested both rc.exe and cl.exe — they run fine from the command line

Environment variables look fine, system-wide PATH and INCLUDE are set correctly

C++ projects won’t build or open at all — even existing ones fail

Only Blueprint-based projects work fine

Tried:

Running UE and VS as admin

Rechecking Windows Kits path and permissions

Verifying engine installation

Rebuilding project files manually from .uproject
Still no luck.

Would really appreciate any help or ideas — this has been driving me nuts!

Thanks in advance!

5 posts - 5 participants