When using Visual Studio on Windows 11/10, if you get The program cannot be started error The system cannot find the specified file; try the solutions to get rid of the problem. There can be several reasons why this error might occur on your computer. This article explains some of the common causes as well as solutions to fix the issue in minutes.
Visual Studio, The program cannot be started, The system cannot find the specified file
To fix the error “The program cannot be started, the system cannot find the specified file in Visual Studio”, follow these steps:
- Restart Visual Studio.
- Check project file
- Run as administrator
- Add exception in antivirus
- Reset Visual Studio
To learn more about these steps, keep reading.
1]Restart Visual Studio.
Sometimes it can be a glitch or a bug that causes such an issue on your computer. In most cases, such problems are solved by restarting the computer. However, in this situation, you must restart the Visual Studio application. Whether you have a project open or not, you can easily restart this program on your computer. If you have an open project on the screen, you can save everything and then do as instructed. After that, you will be able to use all the options as usual.
2]Check project file
Let’s assume you have deleted a project file from the appropriate directory after opening it in Visual Studio. It may have happened by mistake. If yes, then there is a very high chance of getting such an error on your computer. That is why it is highly recommended to check if the project files are not corrupted.
If yes, you can follow other solutions. However, if there is any problem, you need to fix it first. In some cases, you may need to recover deleted project files in order to fix the above problem.
3]Run as Administrator
There are times when you may need to run Visual Studio as an administrator in order to compile or debug a program. Typically, administrator permission may not be required. However, when the aforementioned error appears, it is better to run the program with administrator rights.
To run Visual Studio as an administrator, follow these steps.
- Press start menu.
- Looking for a visual studio.
- Right click corresponding search result.
- Click Run as administrator .
- Press Yes at the UAC prompt.
After that, check if this solves your problem or not.
4]Add exception to antivirus
If the project file is flagged by an antivirus, it may have already been quarantined. If so, you cannot use these files even if they are opened on visual studio. That is why it is recommended to check if your project files have been flagged by your antivirus or not. If so, you need to add an exception for these files to your antivirus application. If you are using Windows Security, you can follow this guide to add a folder to the exclusion list.
5]Reset Visual Studio
If you have changed a lot incorrectly, this error may appear on your computer. That’s why follow these steps to reset Visual Studio on Windows 11/10:
- Press Tools .
- Choose Import and Export Settings.
- Choose Reset all settings .
- Click Next .
- Choose no, just reset the settings by overwriting my current settings.
- Click Next .
- Click Finsh .
Then check if this solved your problem or not.
How to fix The system cannot find the specified file?
To fix the error The system cannot find the file specified in Visual Studio, you can follow the above solutions. It appears mainly due to the fact that the antivirus is blocking your project file. However, sometimes this can also appear due to the lack of administrator credentials.
What does the system cannot find the specified file mean?
The error The system cannot find the specified file means that Visual Studio could not recognize the project file or executable in the predefined directory. This can appear due to corrupted project files, antivirus, firewall, etc. If you see this problem on your computer, you can follow these solutions to fix it in minutes.
Above is an informative article about The program cannot be started, The system cannot find the file specified. Feel free to contact useguide.net through the comment section if you have any questions regarding the instructions we shared above.
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