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The `dotnet build` command from .NET SDK 10 fails with exit code -1 when run by AppVeyor service

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splatteredbits

03 Dec, 2025 12:58 AM

We're unable to run builds on servers in Windows PowerShell. We have a dotnet build command that on .NET SDK 10 under Windows PowerShell, exits with a -1 exit code, with no console output and no log output.

Build history is here: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/WebMD-Health-Services/whiskey/history

Build script we're running: https://github.com/webmd-health-services/Whiskey/blob/master/build.ps1 . The failing dotnet build command is on line 188. For the repo and it should repro.

Sometimes, if I repeatedly run the dotnet build command, it will sometimes eventually work, but not always (I've only ever tried for at most five minutes).

If I pin to .NET 8.0 instead of LTS (which currently resolves to .NET 10.0, the problem goes away.

If I log into the build server interactively, the dotnet build command and the build.ps1 script always work. It is only an issue when running non-interactively by the AppVeyor service.

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Owen McDonnell on 03 Dec, 2025 06:55 PM

   

   Are you able to build on a newer image, Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2022?

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2. 2 Posted by splatteredbits on 03 Dec, 2025 07:07 PM

   

   It fails on the Visual Studio 2019 and Visual Studio 2022 images as well: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/WebMD-Health-Services/whiskey/build...

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3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Owen McDonnell on 03 Dec, 2025 10:16 PM

   

   Can you change Write-Verbose "dotnet build $($params -join ' ')" to Write-Host "dotnet build $($params -join ' ')".
   It would help to see the actual complete build command that is being called is.

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4. 4 Posted by splatteredbits on 03 Dec, 2025 10:52 PM

   

   Done. I turned on verbose output for that message. I also added a message that shows the exit code before the command and after.

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5. Support Staff 5 Posted by Owen McDonnell on 03 Dec, 2025 11:15 PM

   

   Thanks.
   Sorry, i didn't realize your build log was not being uploaded on failing build.
   Can you follow docs here to push C:\projects\whiskey\.output\msbuild.whiskey.log to artifacts on build failure.

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6. 6 Posted by splatteredbits on 03 Dec, 2025 11:26 PM

   

   Done. Unfortunately, it doesn't even generate a log file. I've updated appveyor.yml to publish all the *.log files, but you'll see they aren't there. I added verbose messages to the build script that shows the .output directory is empty. I even increased the log level to diag for the log file.

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7. Support Staff 7 Posted by Owen McDonnell on 04 Dec, 2025 07:29 PM

   

   I've forked your repo and am trying to assess the issue. I'm trying to determine if it's a problem with the build machine image or with newer dotnet sdk and/or powershell.

   What was the last successful build with dotnet 10? Was it on Visual Studio 2017 image? That image hasn't changed for quite some time. Can you successfully Re-Build Commit of last successful build?

   Also, when you say you can RDP to the worker and run the build.ps1 script, are you doing that in powershell core?

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8. 8 Posted by splatteredbits on 04 Dec, 2025 07:39 PM

   

   I don't think we've ever had a successful build with .NET 10. I'll have to review logs.

   I'm running build.ps1 in Windows PowerShell, same as the build should be running.

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9. 9 Posted by splatteredbits on 04 Dec, 2025 07:45 PM

   

   Here's our last successful build running, 15 Oct 2025, on all the images we want, which included Visual Studio 2017: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/WebMD-Health-Services/whiskey/build... . If I rebuild that commit it will fail, because the build script pins to the .NET LTS, not a specific version. It will download .NET 10 SDK.

   The next build ran a month later on 17 Nov 2025. It downloaded and used .NET 10 SDK. and failed. https://ci.appveyor.com/project/WebMD-Health-Services/whiskey/build...

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10. 10 Posted by splatteredbits on 04 Dec, 2025 07:47 PM

    

    I am also not sure if this is a problem with .NET 10 SDK or your service/VMs. I reported https://github.com/dotnet/sdk/issues/51982 to the .NET SDK GitHub project, but have yet to receive any response.

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11. Support Staff 11 Posted by Owen McDonnell on 04 Dec, 2025 09:33 PM

    

    Can you try changing your build script to pwsh: instead of ps: and let us know if there is any difference in terms of build output?

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12. 12 Posted by splatteredbits on 04 Dec, 2025 09:38 PM

    

    The problem does not happen when run under PowerShell/pwsh: https://ci.appveyor.com/project/WebMD-Health-Services/whiskey/build... .

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13. Support Staff 13 Posted by Owen McDonnell on 05 Dec, 2025 01:43 AM

    

    Either use powershell core, or remove $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' from your build script.
    Seems that new dotnet cli is outputting something to stderr.

    I guess AppVeyor powershell session differs from a live one, but regardless, I don't think this is something that can be resolved by our updating build images.

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14. 14 Posted by splatteredbits on 05 Dec, 2025 01:45 AM

    

    We can't use PowerShell Core since we need to test that our PowerShell module runs on Windows PowerShell.

    If we remove $ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop' our build will still fail because dotnet build won't compile our project.

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15. Support Staff 15 Posted by Owen McDonnell on 05 Dec, 2025 07:20 PM

    

    In that case you could use this function to call the dotnet command.
    Put that function in a ps1 file in your repo and then dot source it at the start of your appveyor.yml build script section. Then call Start-ProcessWithOutput "dotnet build $params".
    There's also a flag for ingoring exit codes.

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