Similar to this question http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2035083/compile-to-a-stand-alone-executable-exe-in-visual-studio
But nothing there works for me.
I've written an app that is very simple in C#. I want this to compile to a stand alone exe file, but I can't seem to find the proper settings to do this. Everything compiles into a publish folder and there is only the setup/install files.
Thanks!
You just compile it. In the bin\Release (or bin\Debug) folder, the .exe will be in there.
If you're asking how to make an executable which does not rely on the .NET framework at all, then that's a lot harder and you'll need to purchase something like RemoteSoft's Salamader. In general, it's not really worth the bother: Windows Vista comes with .NET framework 2.0 pre-installed already so if you're worried about that, you can just target the 2.0 framework (then only XP users would have to install the framework).
Are you sure you selected Console Application? I'm running VS 2010 and with the vanilla settings a C# console app builds to \bin\debug. Try to create a new Console Application project, with the language set to C#. Build the project, and go to Project/[Console Application 1]Properties. In the Build tab, what is the Output path? It should default to bin\debug, unless you have some restricted settings on your workstation,etc. Also review the build output window and see if any errors are being thrown - in which case nothing will be built to the output folder, of course...