diff --git a/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx b/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx
index 74eca71b74..cb539b3916 100644
--- a/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmGeneratorTarget.cxx
@@ -1313,15 +1313,10 @@ std::string cmGeneratorTarget::GetCompilePDBName(
     return components.prefix + pdbName + ".pdb";
   }
 
-  // If the target is PCH-reused, we need a stable name for the PDB file so
-  // that reusing targets can construct a stable name for it.
-  if (this->PchReused) {
-    NameComponents const& components = GetFullNameInternalComponents(
-      config, cmStateEnums::RuntimeBinaryArtifact);
-    return cmStrCat(components.prefix, this->GetName(), ".pdb");
-  }
-
-  return "";
+  // Always use a name for the compile-time database.
+  NameComponents const& components =
+    GetFullNameInternalComponents(config, cmStateEnums::RuntimeBinaryArtifact);
+  return cmStrCat(components.prefix, this->GetName(), ".pdb");
 }
 
 std::string cmGeneratorTarget::GetCompilePDBPath(
diff --git a/Tests/MSVCDebugInformationFormat/CMakeLists.txt b/Tests/MSVCDebugInformationFormat/CMakeLists.txt
index b09bc6c416..4b3f28092d 100644
--- a/Tests/MSVCDebugInformationFormat/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Tests/MSVCDebugInformationFormat/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -79,3 +79,11 @@ endif()
 if(CMake_TEST_Fortran)
   verify(Fortran verify.F90)
 endif()
+
+# Issue 27401; 4.2.0 regression
+add_library(PdbCompileFileName PdbCompileFileName.c)
+target_compile_definitions(PdbCompileFileName
+  PRIVATE
+    "TARGET_DIRECTORY=\"$<TARGET_INTERMEDIATE_DIR:PdbCompileFileName>\"")
+set_property(TARGET PdbCompileFileName PROPERTY
+  MSVC_DEBUG_INFORMATION_FORMAT "ProgramDatabase")
diff --git a/Tests/MSVCDebugInformationFormat/PdbCompileFileName.c b/Tests/MSVCDebugInformationFormat/PdbCompileFileName.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6c7678b751
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Tests/MSVCDebugInformationFormat/PdbCompileFileName.c
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+int main(int argc, char* argv[])
+{
+  int ret = 0;
+  char const* fname = TARGET_DIRECTORY "/PdbCompileFileName.pdb";
+  FILE* f = fopen(fname, "r");
+  if (f) {
+    fclose(f);
+  } else {
+    printf("Failed to open PDB file '%s'\n", fname);
+    ret = 1;
+  }
+  return ret;
+}