Summary

Symptoms

When building a project, the following build error occurs:

Fatal Error: -6015: Error generating short file name for file

or

Fatal Error -6015: Could not backup the ISM file.

Cause

1. This error is known to occur when an invalid entry is contained in the DefaultDir column of the Directory Table.

2. This error is known to occur if a backup of your project (for example, your .ism file) already exists in the same folder when upgrading a project.

Resolution

1. To resolve this build error, follow these steps:
   1. Access the Directory table in the Direct Editor.

   2. Make sure all values in the DefaultDir column are valid.

      An example of a valid value in the defaultDir column is:

      .:STARTM~1|Start Menu

      An example of a valid row is:

      Directory	Directory_Parent	DefaultDir	ISDescription	ISAttributes
      StartMenuFolder	TARGETDIR	.:STARTM~1|Start Menu	3

   3. Build the project again.

2. Delete the backup file or move it to another folder before upgrading your project.

Additional Information

Additional information on what constitutes a valid value for the DefaultDir column of the Directory Table can be found in the Windows Installer Help Library topic Directory Table.