warning MSB8027: Two or more files with the name of WindowsAppRuntimeAutoInitializer.cpp will produce outputs to the same location.

I got this warning in my project. Later it is followed by this warning:
WindowsAppRuntimeAutoInitializer.obj : warning LNK4042: object specified more than once; extras ignored

The solution consist of (among others) two c++ projects: exe and dll - both are using the same version WindowsAppSDK (1.7.250401001) nuget.

I think it is caused by WindowsAppSDK nuget that has WindowsAppSDK-Nuget-Native.AutoInitializer.targets
in buildTransitive directory. Also I think older versions of WindowsAppSDK haven't produced such warnings.

Is there a way to prevent the warnings?

Still no update? I try to use new version of WindowsAppSDK (1.7.250513003) and the result is still the same. Additionaly new warning appeared:
xxx\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets(2434,5): warning MSB3106: Assembly strong name "xxx\Microsoft.Windows.AI.Foundation.winmd" is either a path which could not be found or it is a full assembly name which is badly formed. If it is a full assembly name it may contain characters that need to be escaped with backslash(\). Those characters are Equals(=), Comma(,), Quote("), Apostrophe('), Backslash(\).

There is no warning while using WindowsAppSDK 1.6.240923002.

I even prepared sample solution where you can reproduce the error.

Reopening issue. See #5760 for more information.

Just qualifying the metadata access appears to fix things for me. i.e. converting:

      <ClCompile Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\include\WindowsAppRuntimeAutoInitializer.cpp">
        <PrecompiledHeader>NotUsing</PrecompiledHeader>
        <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(WindowsAppSdkBootstrapInitialize)'=='true'">MICROSOFT_WINDOWSAPPSDK_AUTOINITIALIZE_BOOTSTRAP;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
        <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(WindowsAppSdkDeploymentManagerInitialize)'=='true'">MICROSOFT_WINDOWSAPPSDK_AUTOINITIALIZE_DEPLOYMENTMANAGER;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
        <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(WindowsAppSdkUndockedRegFreeWinRTInitialize)'=='true'">MICROSOFT_WINDOWSAPPSDK_AUTOINITIALIZE_UNDOCKEDREGFREEWINRT;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
        <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(WindowsAppSdkCompatibilityInitialize)'=='true'">MICROSOFT_WINDOWSAPPSDK_AUTOINITIALIZE_COMPATIBILITY;%(PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
      </ClCompile>

To:

      <ClCompile Include="$(MSBuildThisFileDirectory)..\..\include\WindowsAppRuntimeAutoInitializer.cpp">
        <PrecompiledHeader>NotUsing</PrecompiledHeader>
        <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(WindowsAppSdkBootstrapInitialize)'=='true'">MICROSOFT_WINDOWSAPPSDK_AUTOINITIALIZE_BOOTSTRAP;%(ClCompile.PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
        <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(WindowsAppSdkDeploymentManagerInitialize)'=='true'">MICROSOFT_WINDOWSAPPSDK_AUTOINITIALIZE_DEPLOYMENTMANAGER;%(ClCompile.PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
        <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(WindowsAppSdkUndockedRegFreeWinRTInitialize)'=='true'">MICROSOFT_WINDOWSAPPSDK_AUTOINITIALIZE_UNDOCKEDREGFREEWINRT;%(ClCompile.PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
        <PreprocessorDefinitions Condition="'$(WindowsAppSdkCompatibilityInitialize)'=='true'">MICROSOFT_WINDOWSAPPSDK_AUTOINITIALIZE_COMPATIBILITY;%(ClCompile.PreprocessorDefinitions)</PreprocessorDefinitions>
      </ClCompile>

Sorry, that only removed some of the problems... Still looking...

It looks like the premise is wrong - the Target is attempting to add a ClCompile Item, and is using %(PreprocessorDefinitions)/%(ClCompile.PreprocessorDefinitions) to do so. But that's ItemDefinitionGroup-syntax for accessing the previously defined metadata values, and isn't valid in an ItemGroup. Infact, within a Task, the %(PreprocessorDefinitions)-syntax will cause Task batching, which will call the Task (i.e. CreateItem) once per 'set' of PreprocessorDefinitions, which is presumably why we're getting multiple ClCompile items.

Any update on this? The "duplicate 'WindowsAppRuntimeAutoInitializer.cpp' compilation" is still present in almost every build even under just released WinAppSDK 2.0.1 Stable... Looking at closed link I have hoped it is fixed.

Fixed in 1.8.8, and a fix is coming to 2.0-stable next week.

build: gate multi-arch host aggregation and full incremental build (#3)

The fix for this issue was shipped in 1.8.8 and 2.0, so I am closing this as completed.

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warning MSB8027: Two or more files with the name of WindowsAppRuntimeAutoInitializer.cpp will produce outputs to the same location. #5395

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warning MSB8027: Two or more files with the name of WindowsAppRuntimeAutoInitializer.cpp will produce outputs to the same location. #5395

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PetrMinar commented on May 22, 2025

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