Qt5.7 qmake; what does "The system cannot find the path specified." mean and how to fix it?

Qt5.7/mingw/windows8.1 qmake. New installation. when i run qmake on a project file, i get the above error message, although the makefiles are emitted, they build and the project works (it would seem).

running qmake from the command line; here are the paths i added to PATH:

I:QtmgQt5.7.05.7mingw53_32bin;i:QtmgQt5.7.0Toolsmingw530_32bin;I:QtmgQt5.7.0ToolsQtCreatorbin

Is this something to do with config files or caches? If so, where would these be. Also is there any other external state that qmake requires.

thanks.

EDIT#1 here is the project file:

TEMPLATE = app

QT += qml quick quickcontrols2
CONFIG += console

SOURCES += main.cpp

RESOURCES += qml.qrc

Edit #2: output from QtCreator 4.0.2

general messages tab:

The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.

Compile output tab, run qmake:

14:49:57: Running steps for project Q1...
14:49:57: Starting: "I:QtmgQt5.7.05.7mingw53_32binqmake.exe" I:larryqtq9editQ1.pro -r -spec win32-g++ "CONFIG+=debug" "CONFIG+=qml_debug"
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
The system cannot find the path specified.
14:49:57: The process "I:QtmgQt5.7.05.7mingw53_32binqmake.exe" exited normally.
14:49:57: Elapsed time: 00:00.

Compile output, rebuild:

14:51:32: Running steps for project Q1...
14:51:32: Starting: "I:QtmgQt5.7.0Toolsmingw530_32binmingw32-make.exe" clean
I:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/Tools/mingw530_32/bin/mingw32-make -f Makefile.Debug clean
mingw32-make[1]: Entering directory 'I:/larry/qt/q9edit'
rm -f debug/qrc_qml.cpp
rm -f debug/main.o debug/qrc_qml.o
mingw32-make[1]: Leaving directory 'I:/larry/qt/q9edit'
I:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/Tools/mingw530_32/bin/mingw32-make -f Makefile.Release clean
mingw32-make[1]: Entering directory 'I:/larry/qt/q9edit'
rm -f release/qrc_qml.cpp
rm -f release/main.o release/qrc_qml.o
mingw32-make[1]: Leaving directory 'I:/larry/qt/q9edit'
14:51:33: The process "I:QtmgQt5.7.0Toolsmingw530_32binmingw32-make.exe" exited normally.
14:51:33: Configuration unchanged, skipping qmake step.
14:51:33: Starting: "I:QtmgQt5.7.0Toolsmingw530_32binmingw32-make.exe" 
I:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/Tools/mingw530_32/bin/mingw32-make -f Makefile.Debug
mingw32-make[1]: Entering directory 'I:/larry/qt/q9edit'
g++ -c -pipe -fno-keep-inline-dllexport -g -std=gnu++11 -frtti -Wall -Wextra -fexceptions -mthreads -DUNICODE -DQT_QML_DEBUG -DQT_QUICKCONTROLS2_LIB -DQT_QUICK_LIB -DQT_GUI_LIB -DQT_QML_LIB -DQT_NETWORK_LIB -DQT_CORE_LIB -I. -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtQuickControls2 -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtQuick -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtGui -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtANGLE -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtQml -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtNetwork -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtCore -Idebug -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/mkspecs/win32-g++  -o debug/main.o main.cpp
'I:QtmgQt5.7.05.7mingw53_32binrcc.exe' -name qml qml.qrc -o debug/qrc_qml.cpp
g++ -c -pipe -fno-keep-inline-dllexport -g -std=gnu++11 -frtti -Wall -Wextra -fexceptions -mthreads -DUNICODE -DQT_QML_DEBUG -DQT_QUICKCONTROLS2_LIB -DQT_QUICK_LIB -DQT_GUI_LIB -DQT_QML_LIB -DQT_NETWORK_LIB -DQT_CORE_LIB -I. -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtQuickControls2 -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtQuick -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtGui -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtANGLE -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtQml -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtNetwork -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/include/QtCore -Idebug -I../../../Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/mkspecs/win32-g++  -o debug/qrc_qml.o debug/qrc_qml.cpp
g++ -Wl,-subsystem,console -mthreads -o debug/Q1.exe debug/main.o debug/qrc_qml.o  -LI:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/lib I:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/lib/libQt5QuickControls2d.a I:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/lib/libQt5Quickd.a I:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/lib/libQt5Guid.a I:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/lib/libQt5Qmld.a I:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/lib/libQt5Networkd.a I:/Qtmg/Qt5.7.0/5.7/mingw53_32/lib/libQt5Cored.a 
mingw32-make[1]: Leaving directory 'I:/larry/qt/q9edit'
14:51:34: The process "I:QtmgQt5.7.0Toolsmingw530_32binmingw32-make.exe" exited normally.
14:51:34: Elapsed time: 00:02.