"fatal error U1087: cannot have : and :: dependents for same target"

Question

Using the Microsoft Driver Development Kit (DDK), this error plagued me as I attempted even to build the default drivers included with the DDK.

I had a some difficulty in tracking down the cause and solution through Google. In an effort to aid others who may experience this same problem, I am documenting it here.

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Error: "fatal error U1087: cannot have : and :: dependents for same target"

Solution: Make sure that the directory you are building in contains no spaces.

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There may be other causes and solutions to this error, so please post below if you have others. This is the solution that worked immediately for me.

Answer 1

Driver source code directory should have no white spaces.

Answer 2

Even though this was marked selfanswer, my accept rate suffers from this question. And it's hard to give 'answer credit' to someone who repeated what was said in the OP. As a true self-answer, I am accepting this response as the answer.

So to reiterate, the solution to this problem is to ensure that there are no spaces in the build directory.

Answer 3

This can also occur if the build state becomes excessively out-of-date, in which case it is fixed by a clean (-c).