How to fix '"CheckAttributes" task could not be loaded'-error after installing Visual Studio 2013 Update 4

Question

After installing Update 4, I now find myself unable to build (or even clean) any solution. I keep getting:

Error 1 The "CheckPathAttributes" task could not be loaded from the assembly C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll. Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. Confirm that the declaration is correct, that the assembly and all its dependencies are available, and that the task contains a public class that implements Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITask. HandlePageNotFound

Does anyone know how to resolve this please?

Well, you're probably better off than I am: https://plus.google.com/102054487224209127233/posts/NS1vAN6apPf - thanks for posting this, now to try the suggestions below. BTW - on Connect: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/1029189/after-update-4-has-been-installed-such-packages-are-failed-to-load — EdSF, Nov 16 '14 at 05:15
Oh my. I see this question **immediately after** updating VS2013 to update 4! — Peter M, Nov 17 '14 at 16:01

score 24 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:58

Well, here's "my solution".

First the horrific "prompt of death" (plus the same "licensing issue" annoyance) in this post:

VS 2013 update 4 issues

What I've attempted (and result) based on info from the interwebs:

Close VS 2013 and rename the folder:
C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache

Result: No effect/errors persist (VS will re-create that folder on startup)
Rerun the Visual Studio Update 4 installer and Repair

Result: Successfully "fixed" whatever it was.
This will take about an hour which is slower than when I originally installed the update so that was a clue, or rather, more like "well, I hope that means it found what it did wrong or forgot/missed out on" (and not, "oh crap, now I'm really screwing things up even more")

A quick summary of my environment so that hopefully will guide you to your solution:

I did install Office Developer Tools Nov 2014 prior to the Update so in my case, that wasn't the issue (I did not remove/uninstall)
I have Resharper, and I did not disable it, so this too doesn't seem related (some have pointed this out)
I did update to Web Essentials 2013 for Update 4 after the initial Update (it will prompt you to after installing VS Update 4). I didn't do anything after the Repair (didn't remove/re-install/etc Web Essentials after the Repair).
I have VS 2012 as well, just mentioning this though that was never affected in any way (and was my fallback while this issue was stopping me from using VS2013)

Hth...

Awesome, thanks for sharing that info. I've encountered these warnings also, but in typical cavalier style, I just ignored them and hoped for the best :) So far, it does not look like I'm suffering, however your advice will come in handy if that situation changes. — Jason Evans, Nov 16 '14 at 17:54
@JasonEvans - in my case, I couldn't ignore...couldn't (re)build existing projects with myriad errors too many to list- it gets to the nosebleed level :) So I "had to" figure something out (or keep using VS 2012). Rock and a hard place :) Best~ — EdSF, Nov 16 '14 at 19:59
I did a repair on my Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate which fixed it (although it does take a long time) — dumbledad, Dec 09 '14 at 12:04

score 18 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

18

Found the solution via this

TransformXml task could not be loaded from Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll

In my case, I had Visual Studio 2012 installed on an E: drive already, so I found a copy of Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks in

E:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\Web

So I copied that file, and Microsoft.Web.XmlTransform to here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web

and now all is well :)

edited May 23 '17 at 12:31

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answered Nov 14 '14 at 14:16

Jason Evans

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Copying the DLL files from C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\Web to C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web did the trick for me. Thanks! – Sipke Schoorstra Nov 14 '14 at 21:53
Same as above from v10.0 (I did not have a web folder for v11.0) to v12.0 and it worked as well. – user906573 Nov 17 '14 at 22:17
Did not help me, unfortuneately – JTIM Jan 02 '15 at 12:23
@JTIM Did any of the other answers help? My answer specifically helped me, but it may not help other people. – Jason Evans Jan 02 '15 at 12:27
@JasonEvans I am trying rebuild, all other did not work. Crossing my fingers :D – JTIM Jan 02 '15 at 12:40
I copied the file did not work. But When I uninstalled "Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2013", and repaired the VS2013, then the issue was gone. – JTIM Jan 02 '15 at 13:27

score 10 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 14 '14 at 15:12

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Uninstalling "Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2013 – November 2014 Update" helped me. Now all works as before.

answered Nov 14 '14 at 15:12

DeividasV

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Hmmm, I did install that thinking about it. Maybe that was at fault, rather than Update 4. – Jason Evans Nov 14 '14 at 15:13
Same for me, I blamed Update 4 too. Uninstalling this fixed the issue. – Jon Tackabury Nov 15 '14 at 22:53
Yes, it was Office dev tools update that for some reason deleted "c:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll". – seva titov Nov 17 '14 at 04:25
This worked for me... Thanks! It's a very long uninstall by the way, no need to be alarmed. :) – Brian MacKay Nov 19 '14 at 18:17

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 14 '14 at 17:47

8

If you have VS 2012 installed on your machine. Copy Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll and Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets from C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\web\ into C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web (the path for VS 2013). Restart visual studio.

answered Nov 14 '14 at 17:47

William

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Thanks for that. I didn't copy the file `Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets`, maybe I should do that just in case. – Jason Evans Nov 14 '14 at 20:07

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 17 '15 at 15:38

I have only VS2013 (now with Update 4) and I solve this problem as follows: Close VS, copy "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.Dll" into the "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web" directory and start VS (folder v11.0 no contains Web subfolder). Now I can rebuild website projects without any error again.

score 2 · Answer 6 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:15

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My problem cleared thanks to the same TransformXml link and the suggestion to install Windows SDK for Windows 7 and .NET Framework 4

edited May 23 '17 at 12:15

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answered Nov 14 '14 at 15:00

justSteve

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Here is a link to the SDK Downloads: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dotnet/p/dotnet_sdks.aspx – Elan Hasson Jul 09 '15 at 15:28

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 24 '14 at 07:59

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Copying "Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll" and "Microsoft.Web.XmlTransform.dll" from "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\Web" to "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web" also works

answered Dec 24 '14 at 07:59

Sunil Yadav

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How to fix '"CheckAttributes" task could not be loaded'-error after installing Visual Studio 2013 Update 4

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