diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 5e6d3c2d9..d12b4d991 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -286,3 +286,5 @@ install.sh
 # Confidential temporary files — must not reach public repository
 tmp/
 test/Generated/GeneratedCode/*.generated.cs
+test/MSBuild/Generated/**/*.generated.cs
+test/MSBuild/GeneratedOutput/**/*.cs
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Refitter.Tests/GenerateCommandTests.cs b/src/Refitter.Tests/GenerateCommandTests.cs
index 19c463fa7..ec57bf469 100644
--- a/src/Refitter.Tests/GenerateCommandTests.cs
+++ b/src/Refitter.Tests/GenerateCommandTests.cs
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ public void Command_Should_Have_Protected_ExecuteAsync_Method()
     [Test]
     public void GetOutputPath_Should_Root_Relative_To_SettingsFile_When_OutputFolder_Is_Default()
     {
-        var settingsFilePath = @"C:\Projects\MyApi\petstore.refitter";
+        var settingsFilePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "Projects", "MyApi", "petstore.refitter");
         var settings = new Settings
         {
             SettingsFilePath = settingsFilePath,
@@ -172,13 +172,14 @@ public void GetOutputPath_Should_Root_Relative_To_SettingsFile_When_OutputFolder
         method.Should().NotBeNull();
         var result = method!.Invoke(null, [settings, refitSettings]) as string;
 
-        result.Should().Be(@"C:\Projects\MyApi\./Generated\Output.cs");
+        var expectedPath = Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(settingsFilePath)!, "./Generated", "Output.cs");
+        result.Should().Be(expectedPath);
     }
 
     [Test]
     public void GetOutputPath_Should_Root_Relative_To_SettingsFile_When_OutputFolder_Is_Custom()
     {
-        var settingsFilePath = @"C:\Projects\MyApi\petstore.refitter";
+        var settingsFilePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "Projects", "MyApi", "petstore.refitter");
         var settings = new Settings
         {
             SettingsFilePath = settingsFilePath,
@@ -198,14 +199,15 @@ public void GetOutputPath_Should_Root_Relative_To_SettingsFile_When_OutputFolder
 
         var result = method!.Invoke(null, [settings, refitSettings]) as string;
 
-        result.Should().Be(@"C:\Projects\MyApi\./CustomOutput\PetStore.cs");
+        var expectedPath = Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(settingsFilePath)!, "./CustomOutput", "PetStore.cs");
+        result.Should().Be(expectedPath);
     }
 
     [Test]
     public void GetOutputPath_Should_Use_SettingsFileName_When_OutputFilename_Is_Missing()
     {
         // OutputFilename will be defaulted by ApplySettingsFileDefaults
-        var settingsFilePath = @"C:\Projects\MyApi\petstore.refitter";
+        var settingsFilePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "Projects", "MyApi", "petstore.refitter");
         var settings = new Settings
         {
             SettingsFilePath = settingsFilePath,
@@ -232,13 +234,15 @@ public void GetOutputPath_Should_Use_SettingsFileName_When_OutputFilename_Is_Mis
         var result = method!.Invoke(null, [settings, refitSettings]) as string;
 
         // Should use settings file base name
-        result.Should().Be(@"C:\Projects\MyApi\./Generated\petstore.cs");
+        var expectedFilename = Path.GetFileNameWithoutExtension(settingsFilePath) + ".cs";
+        var expectedPath = Path.Combine(Path.GetDirectoryName(settingsFilePath)!, "./Generated", expectedFilename);
+        result.Should().Be(expectedPath);
     }
 
     [Test]
     public void ApplySettingsFileDefaults_Should_Set_Default_OutputFolder()
     {
-        var settingsFilePath = @"C:\Projects\MyApi\petstore.refitter";
+        var settingsFilePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "Projects", "MyApi", "petstore.refitter");
         var refitSettings = new RefitGeneratorSettings
         {
             OutputFolder = null
@@ -257,7 +261,7 @@ public void ApplySettingsFileDefaults_Should_Set_Default_OutputFolder()
     [Test]
     public void ApplySettingsFileDefaults_Should_Preserve_Explicit_OutputFolder()
     {
-        var settingsFilePath = @"C:\Projects\MyApi\petstore.refitter";
+        var settingsFilePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "Projects", "MyApi", "petstore.refitter");
         var refitSettings = new RefitGeneratorSettings
         {
             OutputFolder = "./CustomFolder"
@@ -275,7 +279,7 @@ public void ApplySettingsFileDefaults_Should_Preserve_Explicit_OutputFolder()
     [Test]
     public void ApplySettingsFileDefaults_Should_Set_Default_When_Empty_OutputFolder()
     {
-        var settingsFilePath = @"C:\Projects\MyApi\petstore.refitter";
+        var settingsFilePath = Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), "Projects", "MyApi", "petstore.refitter");
         var refitSettings = new RefitGeneratorSettings
         {
             OutputFolder = string.Empty
@@ -289,4 +293,4 @@ public void ApplySettingsFileDefaults_Should_Set_Default_When_Empty_OutputFolder
 
         refitSettings.OutputFolder.Should().Be("./Generated");
     }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Refitter/GenerateCommand.cs b/src/Refitter/GenerateCommand.cs
index 7ca9a85f5..f2e0c2203 100644
--- a/src/Refitter/GenerateCommand.cs
+++ b/src/Refitter/GenerateCommand.cs
@@ -39,26 +39,25 @@ protected override async Task<int> ExecuteAsync(CommandContext context, Settings
     {
         RefitGeneratorSettings refitGeneratorSettings;
 
-        // When settings file is provided, deserialize it first and use as source of truth
-        if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(settings.SettingsFilePath))
+        try
         {
-            var json = await File.ReadAllTextAsync(settings.SettingsFilePath);
-            refitGeneratorSettings = Serializer.Deserialize<RefitGeneratorSettings>(json);
-
-            // Allow CLI to override OpenApiPath if explicitly provided
-            if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(settings.OpenApiPath))
-                refitGeneratorSettings.OpenApiPath = settings.OpenApiPath;
+            // When settings file is provided, deserialize it first and use as source of truth
+            if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(settings.SettingsFilePath))
+            {
+                var json = await File.ReadAllTextAsync(settings.SettingsFilePath);
+                refitGeneratorSettings = Serializer.Deserialize<RefitGeneratorSettings>(json);
 
-            ApplySettingsFileDefaults(settings.SettingsFilePath, refitGeneratorSettings);
-        }
-        else
-        {
-            // No settings file - build from CLI arguments
-            refitGeneratorSettings = CreateRefitGeneratorSettings(settings);
-        }
+                // Allow CLI to override OpenApiPath if explicitly provided
+                if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(settings.OpenApiPath))
+                    refitGeneratorSettings.OpenApiPath = settings.OpenApiPath;
 
-        try
-        {
+                ApplySettingsFileDefaults(settings.SettingsFilePath, refitGeneratorSettings);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                // No settings file - build from CLI arguments
+                refitGeneratorSettings = CreateRefitGeneratorSettings(settings);
+            }
             var stopwatch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
             var version = GetType().Assembly.GetName().Version!.ToString();
             if (version == "1.0.0.0")
@@ -936,4 +935,4 @@ internal static string DetermineSettingsFilePath(Settings settings)
         // Default: put .refitter file in current directory
         return FileExtensionConstants.Refitter;
     }
-}
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/MSBuild/build.ps1 b/test/MSBuild/build.ps1
index 169c64ce7..9ddb792e8 100644
--- a/test/MSBuild/build.ps1
+++ b/test/MSBuild/build.ps1
@@ -57,8 +57,9 @@ Write-Host "PASS: No stray Output.cs in root directory" -ForegroundColor Green
 # Check interface naming (smoke test for naming.interfaceName)
 $petstoreContent = Get-Content "Generated\Petstore.cs" -Raw
 if ($petstoreContent -notmatch "interface ISwaggerPetstore") {
-    Write-Host "WARNING: Expected interface ISwaggerPetstore not found in Petstore.cs" -ForegroundColor Yellow
-    Write-Host "         naming.interfaceName setting may have been ignored" -ForegroundColor Yellow
+    Write-Host "ERROR: Expected interface ISwaggerPetstore not found in Petstore.cs" -ForegroundColor Red
+    Write-Host "       naming.interfaceName setting may have been ignored" -ForegroundColor Red
+    exit 1
 } else {
     Write-Host "PASS: Interface ISwaggerPetstore found (respects naming.interfaceName)" -ForegroundColor Green
 }
@@ -72,7 +73,9 @@ Write-Host "PASS: GeneratedOutput\PetstoreWithFolder.cs exists (respects explici
 
 $petstoreWithFolderContent = Get-Content "GeneratedOutput\PetstoreWithFolder.cs" -Raw
 if ($petstoreWithFolderContent -notmatch "interface ISwaggerPetstoreWithFolder") {
-    Write-Host "WARNING: Expected interface ISwaggerPetstoreWithFolder not found in GeneratedOutput\PetstoreWithFolder.cs" -ForegroundColor Yellow
+    Write-Host "ERROR: Expected interface ISwaggerPetstoreWithFolder not found in GeneratedOutput\PetstoreWithFolder.cs" -ForegroundColor Red
+    Write-Host "       naming.interfaceName setting may have been ignored" -ForegroundColor Red
+    exit 1
 } else {
     Write-Host "PASS: Interface ISwaggerPetstoreWithFolder found (respects naming.interfaceName with outputFolder)" -ForegroundColor Green
 }
@@ -81,4 +84,4 @@ Write-Host "=== All Issue #998 Checks Complete ===" -ForegroundColor Cyan
 Write-Host ""
 
 dotnet remove package Refitter.MSBuild
-Remove-Item Refitter.MSBuild.*.nupkg -Force
+Remove-Item Refitter.MSBuild.*.nupkg -Force
\ No newline at end of file