Setup will not compile

[HamCoder]

I am running VB.NEt(2003). I have a solution with 2 projects - the True project and the Setup project. User documentation is in a Help directory which contains 29 htm, bmp, and ico files. A year ago, both projects were fine and Setup project successfully deployed to several computers. I've completed some maintenance to the True project, which compiles and tests OK in Debug mode. When I change to Release mode, the Setup project will not compile. It seems to make no difference whether I click Build or Rebuild for either the Setup project or the Solution. Sometimes I get this error message C:\Development\VBN\VAQSO\VAQSO_Setup\VAQSO_Setup.vdproj Could not find file 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003\Common7\Tools\Deployment\.\MsiRedist\1033\MsiLoadr.Bin' 'Interface not registered' Note the \.\ in the middle. The file & path (without the period) exist. Usually I get this error message C:\Development\VBN\VAQSO\VAQSO_Setup\VAQSO_Setup.vdproj Could not find file 'C:\Development\VBN\VAQSO\VAQSO\bin\Help\Clear.ico' 'Interface not registered' This file and path also exist. This file is in the Setup project in a directory under the Application Folder. I can make this error go away in three steps. 1-Delete the entry from the Setup project. 2-Rename the file on my hard drive. 3-Add the renamed file back into the Setup project. Usually this works on this file, but then another file in the same folder will come up missing the next build. I figure I've busted a setting someplace, but I have no idea which one. This is the only VB project I maintain so I'm on thin ice here. Any ideas why the compiler is behaving this way? Thanks --HamCoder