Solved Publishing Problem with Visual Studio Pro 2022

I'll start by saying that I don't usually publish in VS. My code goes off to someone else for review and to get folded into the bigger project, most of the time. Otherwise, we use the raw executables and don't actually install the code I have written to Windows.

The problem I am having is that I am trying to publish a utility I have written, but I want the install files so I can put it on other machines. Easy peasy, one would think, but VS is only publishing a Debug version of the program. It will install but not run, due to the debug symbols not being present in the installed machine. It will run on any PC with VS installed, but not on a machine without it installed. Great. I have identified the issue, but I can't seem to fix it.

What I want is for VS to generate a Release version of the program, but it doesn't seem to want to do that for me. It still makes a debug release no matter what I do. I am missing a setting somewhere and I can't figure out what it could be. The coders here at work can't figure this out either. I even tried a version of VS Community 2022 to do this and it still won't work.

It is a setting, I am sure of it. I am hoping someone here with some VS knowledge can help me out.

It just be a simple toggle between building a debug or release vs. been that way forever in visual studios Set debug and release configurations - Visual Studio (Windows)

I agree. It should just be a simple toggle, but it doesn't seem to be working right. Even though I select a release build, it still makes a debug build for some reason. There must be something under the hood that I am missing and haven't seen yet. As I mentioned, I don't usually publish stuff and I am a little unsure of what I am doing in this case. I leave the packaging and that sort of stuff to the experts.

And in this case, the experts I am used to can't figure it out either. Maybe I should re-install VS?

Not sure which type of project/solution you're building but make sure these values match in Configuration Manager.

Aha! I missed that one. It was set wrong. Thank you so much.