Visual Studio Solution Explorer not showing projects in solution

Question

When I try to right click (in the Solution Explorer) and add the existing project to solution, I get the error:

The .NET Core SDK cannot be located. .NET Core debugging will not be enabled. Make sure the .NET Core SDK is installed and is on the path

I checked here (where they get the same error on VS Code) and tried repairing, installing, reinstalling Visual Studio and my .Net 6.0 and 7.0 SDKs. Made sure to install the SDKs even with VS not open, even after a fresh restart. Nothing worked. Plus, some of those solutions seemed specific to VS code, not VS Studio.

Not sure how relevant this detail is, but this my first attempt at installing Visual Studio on this computer.

The problem persisted regardless of project type (WPF and Console were attempted), .Net version (tried making .Net 6.0 and 7.0 apps, which are the 2 sdks I've got installed), and whether or not I indicated I wanted the project and solution in the same directory.

Those were my guesses, and nothing's worked.

Here's what it looks like when I create a new project:

Have you installed `Microsoft .NET Framework Developer package`? — Tarun Krishna, Dec 21 '22 at 03:34
Please refer the [Link](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/windows?tabs=net70) — Tarun Krishna, Dec 21 '22 at 03:57
@TarunKrishna This [link](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/install/guide-for-developers) says it's included in VS 2022, which is what I installed. — Osama Kawish, Dec 21 '22 at 03:58
Please install `microsoft .NET SDK` use 6.0 for longer support in your local machine using the [Link](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/dotnet) and restart the visual studio. — Tarun Krishna, Dec 21 '22 at 04:17
@TarunKrishna as stated in post, I have only .Net 6.0 and 7.0 installed. — Osama Kawish, Dec 22 '22 at 03:23
@TarunKrishna The project that's supposed to be included in the solution when you create a new project. It shows in my directory, so I tried to add it to my solution, but it somehow doesn't show up in the solution explorer. — Osama Kawish, Dec 22 '22 at 03:30
I have tried when i am creating the console app in visual studio. I am getting the project as shown in the [image](https://i.imgur.com/lpBbFiD.png) — Tarun Krishna, Dec 26 '22 at 03:38

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 21 '22 at 08:15

Open visual studio installer and make sure you have installed .Net Framework Developer correctly.

Select .Net 6.0 on this page

Can you create a wpf .net 6 project according to this flow.

If it still doesn't work, please try the repair button in the installer.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 14 '23 at 23:45

The problem turned out to be that the SDKs weren't ordered correctly in the environment variables. C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet was listed before C:\Program Files\dotnet. I found the solution here.

Not exactly a duplicate issue though, as issues were sort of different, but had the same fix.

Visual Studio Solution Explorer not showing projects in solution

2 Answers2