FIX: LNK4076: Invalid Incremental Status File

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Edition, version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

Each time a particular project is built, the linker issues this warning:

   LINK: "warning LNK4076: invalid incremental status file <Project>.ilk":
   linking nonincrementally

CAUSE

The message is generated when the project's .ilk file has been corrupted. The most likely cause of this is stopping a build during the link phase by clicking Stop Build on the Build menu.

RESOLUTION

Use either of the following resolutions:

• Delete the .ilk file. This will cause a non-incremental link next time. Linking will be incremental thereafter.

  -or-

• Perform a rebuild all. This will delete the .ilk file prior to the build.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. This bug was corrected in Visual C++ 4.1.

MORE INFORMATION

The .ilk file contains information for incremental linking. When you stop the build during the link phase, this file is truncated to 0 bytes. When the linker recognizes the corrupted .ilk file, it displays the warning and performs a complete link. However it does not delete the corrupted file.

The presence of the corrupted .ilk file prevents the creation of a new file with the correct information during the full link. Therefore, it is necessary to delete the file manually to reinstate incremental linking.