PRB: Compiling a VB Project Generates "Fatal Error C1083"

• Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0

SYMPTOMS

Attempting to compile a Visual Basic project residing on a network that only supports 8.3 filenames may generate the following error:

"fatal error C1083: Cannot open compiler generated file:
'[path to file]\[projectname]1.OBJ': No such file or directory."

CAUSE

If there are N modules in a project, Visual Basic will create N + 1 object files; one for each module and one for the project as a whole. The names are derived from either the module name or, for the project, the EXE name. The name used is either "<basename>.obj" or "<basename><number>.obj." A number is added if the base names of the N + 1 files have naming conflicts (such as test.bas and test.frm).

Therefore, even if the project name may be fewer than 8 characters, the Visual Basic compiler/linker generates object files with the name <projectname>1.OBJ when a conflict is detected, resulting in 9-character filenames.

In a network environment that does not support long filenames, such as a Novell network, the above error will occur.

RESOLUTION

Create shorter names for your form, module, and project so that if a name conflict occurs, the appended number will not violate the short filename requirement of your network environment.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

REFERENCES

For additional information, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q152789 : HOWTO: Install Visual Basic to a Network Using 8.3 File Names

Q191902 : PRB: Errors Using Setup Wizard on Novell Network

Additional query words: kbdss kbDSupport kbVBp kbCompiler kbVBp600 kbVBp500 kberrmsg

Keywords : kbGrpVB
Version : WINDOWS:5.0,6.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb