The target "GatherAllFilesToPublish" does not exist in the project

Question

I've checked that the same error occurred in the past with earlier vs .net versions but I am facing this issue in VS 2017 while trying to upgrade from VS Community 15.3.5 to 15.4.

I first installed using the web installer by choosing the options,
some how there were a couple of errors & the download + installation took over 9+ hours

visual studio was working and compiling project except that this had the problem 'The target "GatherAllFilesToPublish" does not exist in the project'.

Then I tried downloading the entire setup using "vs_community.exe --layout "C:\MyFolder" --lang en-US" which again took over 9 hours to finish download. Re-ran the setup choosing Repair, again the same issue.

Is any one aware of a quicker way to solve this above problem?

score 24 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 23 '18 at 07:29

24

I had similar problem and it solved by changing csproj file:

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="false" />

changed to

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v15.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="true" />

answered Jan 23 '18 at 07:29

Mohammad Reza Sadreddini

568
4
16

1

I guess this error occurs when a project created with an older version of VS is loaded in a newer version. I came across this error too. I opened a VS2010 project in VS2017 and got this error. Making changes as suggested by Mohammad Reza Sadreddini worked for me. – Shrewdroid Sep 25 '18 at 13:44
Same here. I was upgrading from a VS project back in 2008 over to VS2017 and yeah the migration did not work as it did not update that line. Now it works. Thanks – Fandango68 Jan 23 '19 at 06:05

score 9 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 24 '19 at 15:02

9

I had same issue (Visual Studio 2017). Install - " MSBuild.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.targets " nuget package to visual studio. And then try to publish.

answered Jun 24 '19 at 15:02

Jain

161
2
4

Our project relies on [MSBuild.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.targets](https://www.nuget.org/packages/MSBuild.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.targets). I updated Visual Studio 2017 yesterday and got the _"GatherAllFilesToPublish" does not exist in the project'._ error. All I had to do to fix it was to update [MSBuild.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.targets](https://www.nuget.org/packages/MSBuild.Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.targets) to the latest version (v14.0.0.3) and that solved the issue. – Ben Bailey Nov 20 '19 at 13:32
I had this problem with VS2019 and solved by installing Web.targets through Nuget – keno Jul 05 '22 at 12:57

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 26 '18 at 18:09

1

Just install the ASP.Net Web Deployment component for VS2017, it worked for me.

answered Jun 26 '18 at 18:09

user3892038

21
1

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 23 '18 at 09:26

Similar issue occurred with me after I upgraded project from previous version to VS 2017. I had to make following changes in the csproj file.

Uncomment the following part of code from csproj file ( It was already present as comment, not sure why it did not change while upgrade automatically. If you do not have it, add below lines of code.)

<PropertyGroup>
    <VisualStudioVersion Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == ''">10.0</VisualStudioVersion>
    <VSToolsPath Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion) 
    </VSToolsPath>
</PropertyGroup>

Make sure below 3 imports are present in the csproj file. (These were also present, but if not, add manually)

<Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<Import Project="$(VSToolsPath)\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' != ''" />
<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="false" />

And then I was able to publish the project.

After many tries, this is the winner config, VS2019 – Morcilla de Arroz Jun 17 '21 at 06:27 — Morcilla de Arroz, Jun 17 '21 at 06:27

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 31 '18 at 15:17

I wonder what packages are changing these paths?

Mine is as follows:

<VSToolsPath Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildProgramFiles32)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0</VSToolsPath>

changed to

<VSToolsPath Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)</VSToolsPath>

same issue as this: https://stackoverflow.com/a/48545538/231821

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 13 '18 at 13:15

I had this same problem, I updated Visual Studio 2017 to a newer version via the installer. The installer never completed successfully. It completed with some errors which I just ignored so many of the components weren't installed which came after the components with errors. After I resolved the error components, the rest of the installation finally completed successfully and I could publish again with no problems.

I think some of the components which wasn't installed previously was older versions which was not compatible with the new update.

Try installing/updating your visual studio completely with no errors.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered May 15 '23 at 09:06

For me work this solution

Edit project file and add this "PropertyGroup" (csproj)

<!--Visual Studio 2022-->
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == '17.0'">
    <VisualStudioVersion>17.0</VisualStudioVersion>
    <VSToolsPath Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)</VSToolsPath>
</PropertyGroup>

and then the line

<Import Project="$(VSToolsPath)\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' != ''" />

works ok!

The target "GatherAllFilesToPublish" does not exist in the project

7 Answers7