msbuild - error MSB4018: The "CopyRefAssembly" task failed unexpectedly

Question

This error just seems to happen randomly. I've done an internet search, but nothing turns up. If I clean out the bin, obj, and .vs directories, it will fix it for a few builds and then the error will come back.

1>------ Build started: Project: GridViewOnly, Configuration: Debug Any CPU ------
1>Failed to check the content hash of the destination ref assembly 'C:Usersmyusersource
eposGridViewOnlyinDebug
et5.0-windows
efGridViewOnly.dll'. It will be overwritten.
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018: The "CopyRefAssembly" task failed unexpectedly.
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018: System.InvalidOperationException: The "CopyRefAssembly" task has not registered its resources. In order to use the "TaskLoggingHelper.FormatResourceString()" method this task needs to register its resources either during construction, or via the "TaskResources" property.
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.Build.Shared.ErrorUtilities.ThrowInvalidOperation(String resourceName, Object[] args)
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.Build.Shared.ErrorUtilities.VerifyThrowInvalidOperation(Boolean condition, String resourceName, Object arg0)
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.Build.Utilities.TaskLoggingHelper.FormatResourceString(String resourceName, Object[] args)
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.Build.Utilities.TaskLoggingHelper.LogErrorWithCodeFromResources(String messageResourceName, Object[] messageArgs)
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.BuildTasks.CopyRefAssembly.Copy()
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.CodeAnalysis.BuildTasks.CopyRefAssembly.Execute()
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskExecutionHost.Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.ITaskExecutionHost.Execute()
1>C:Program Files (x86)Microsoft Visual Studio2019ProfessionalMSBuildCurrentBinMicrosoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(4413,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskBuilder.<ExecuteInstantiatedTask>d__26.MoveNext()
1>Done building project "GridViewOnly.csproj" -- FAILED.
========== Build: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========

question from:https://stackoverflow.com/questions/65853141/error-msb4018-the-copyrefassembly-task-failed-unexpectedly

Answer 1

I used the configuration manager to create an x64 configuration and that seems to fix it. I haven't encountered the problem since I did that a couple days ago, anyway. Before, I was just using the default AnyCPU configuration. I wound up deleting it because I know I don't need it.