MSTest.exe exited with ExitCode 1 - unit-testing

Question

I am manually running tests from msbuild/tfsbuild by manually invoking mstest.exe but it is failing unexpectedly with error MSB3073 and ExitCode 1 when I am expecting 0.
I have this target that searches for all DLLs with a postfix of *UnitTests.DLL in the $(OutDir) folder. It builds up a commandline statement that is then executed:
<Target Name="RunUnitTests">
<CreateItem Include="$(OutDir)\*.UnitTests.dll"
AdditionalMetadata="TestContainerPrefix=/testcontainer:">
<Output TaskParameter="Include"
ItemName="UnitTestAssemblies" />
</CreateItem>
<Exec Timeout="120000"
Command=""$(VS110COMNTOOLS)..\IDE\mstest.exe" #(UnitTestAssemblies->'%(TestContainerPrefix)"%(FullPath)"',' ') /testsettings:"$(OutDir)..\..\Sources\mysettings.testsettings"" >
<Output TaskParameter="ExitCode" PropertyName="ExitCode"/>
</Exec>
<Error Condition=" '$(ExitCode)' != '0' And '$(ExitCode)' != '2'" Text="An error [$(ExitCode)] occurred running unit tests." />
<OnError ExecuteTargets="MarkBuildStepAsFailed" />
</Target>
I've added a Timeout property above because some googling suggested this but it didnt make a difference.
This gets equated in the buildlog file as below (quotes included) (the folders names I have changed but left spaces where relevant but they don't look too long):
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 11.0\Common7\..\IDE\mstest.exe" /testcontainer:"C:\b\someprojectfolder\anotherfolder\Binaries\..\..\debug\some.unittests.dll" /testsettings:"C:\b\someprojectfolder\anotherfolder\Sources\..\..\mysettings.testsettings"
The tests DO run on the build server as part of the build process (i.e. calling the target above) as I can see the test results folder get created on disk. All unit tests pass as expected. I can see the MSTest.exe console output in my build log as well (e.g. Starting execution, list of tests and results, the results file is listed etc)
Additionally I can RDC onto the build server as the build service account and manually run the commandline above using a CMD and it works. (the test results (*.trx) and folder are there).
They also work when I manually invoke the commandline above using CMD them on my local developer machine as myself. It creates the test results file and folders.
FYI We are using Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate on my local machine and installed on the build server as well.
FYI We are using TFS 2012 with an upgrade process definition
I've got a feeling its to do with the "parsing"/escaping of quotes and/or apostrophes or could it be the use of using ..\ in the paths?
I have checked the event log on the build server and it displays no errors/information. Is there any other logs I can check? or properties I can define to "see" the actual error code?
NOTE: I know I could use the <RunTest> style msbuild/tfs build syntaxbut I manual trigger these tests at a more convenient time in the build process

Answer 1

this wasnt to with do quotes or apostrophes in paths. My .testsettings file connects to a remote test controller (on another server running Windows Server 2008 R2). I was collecting all data and diagnostics (video recorder etc, network emulation, event log, system diagnostics etc)
When I checked the event log on the test controller/agent server it was full of errors saying MSTest had to be run as administrative permissions. Thats what i am now investigating.