FIX: LNK1201 Error Writing to .PDB File After Line Profile

The information in this article applies to:

• The Microsoft Developer Studio included with: Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Edition, version 4.0

The information in this article is included in the documentation starting with Visual C++ 5.0. Look there for future revisions.

SYMPTOMS

Attempting to build or rebuild a project after performing a line coverage profile by clicking Profile on the Tools menu results in this error message:

   LNK1201: error writing to program database
   "c:\MSDEV\Projects\yourapp\Debug\yourapp.pdb"; check for insufficient
   disk space

CAUSE

Developer Studio does not close the project's program database file (.pdb file) after doing a line profile. Upon attempting to rebuild the project, the linker cannot write to the project's .pdb file, which causes the LNK1201 error.

RESOLUTION

To work around this problem:

• Exit Developer Studio. Then restart Developer Studio, and reload your project.

  -or-

• Use a batch file to line profile your application. Specifying the Lcover.bat file in the Custom Settings of the Profile dialog box will perform the same profile as specifying line coverage. Any profiling batch file may be called in this way, allowing Lcover.bat to be customized to fit your particular needs. For more information on using a batch file to profile your application, please see the following topics in the Help file:

  Visual C++ Books\Visual C++ User's Guide\Profiling Code\Other

        Profiler Features\Running a Custom Batch File
  

  Visual C++ Books\Visual C++ User's Guide\Profiler Reference\

        Profiler Batch Processing
  

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This bug was corrected in Visual C++ 4.1.