allowDefinition='MachineToApplication' error when publishing from VS2010 (but only after a previous build)

i had the same problem with my MVC apps. it was frustrating because i still wanted my views to be checked, so i didn't want to turn off MvcBuildViews

luckily i came across a post which gave me the answer. keep the MvcBuildViews as true, then you can add the following line underneath in your project file:

<BaseIntermediateOutputPath>[SomeKnownLocationIHaveAccessTo]</BaseIntermediateOutputPath>

And make that folder not in your project's folder. Works for me. It's not a perfect solution, but it's good for the moment. Make sure you remove the package folder (located inside the obj\Debug and/or obj\Release folder) from your project folder otherwise you'll keep getting the error.

FWIW, MS know about this error...

I deleted everything out of my obj/Debug folder and it fixed this error. This allowed me to leave in the

<MvcBuildViews>true</MvcBuildViews>

option in my project file (which comes in handy with the T4MVC T4 template).

Edit: This can be achieved much easier by simply using the "Build" -> "Rebuild Solution" menu (because what rebuild actually does is clear the obj/Debug folder and then build solution).

I'm using this workaround on the MS Connect page for this error. It cleans all obj and temp files under your project (all configurations) before running AspNetCompiler.

Modify the MvcBuildViews target in your project file so that it depends on the targets that clean up the packaging files that Visual Studio has created. These targets are included in web application projects automatically.

All packaging files will be deleted every time that the MvcBuildViews target executes.

<Target Name="MvcBuildViews" AfterTargets="AfterBuild" Condition="'$(MvcBuildViews)'=='true'" DependsOnTargets="CleanWebsitesPackage;CleanWebsitesPackageTempDir;CleanWebsitesTransformParametersFiles;">
    <AspNetCompiler VirtualPath="temp" PhysicalPath="$(MSBuildProjectDirectory)" />
</Target>