NuGet auto package restore does not work with MSBuild

I'm trying to build a solution with packages content missing (except repositories.config inside) with MSBuild 12.0. I expect it to auto restore all missing packages before building but this is not the case - MsBuild reports tons of errors:

"are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?"

NuGet Manager is 2.7 (I see this in Visual Studio 2013 about box). I even tried to pass EnableNuGetPackageRestore=true parameter - no luck. What am I missing?

Solution 1:

If you are using Visual Studio 2017 or later which ships with MSBuild 15 or later, and your .csproj files are in the new PackageReference format, the simplest method is to use the new MSBuild Restore target.

No-one has actually answered the original question, which is "how do I get NuGet packages to auto-restore when building from the command-line with MSBuild?" The answer is: unless you are using the "Enable NuGet package restore" option (which is now deprecated as per this reference), you can't (but see below). If you are trying to do e.g. automated builds on a CI server, this sucks.

However there is a slightly roundabout way to get the desired behaviour:

Download the latest NuGet executable from https://dist.nuget.org/win-x86-commandline/latest/nuget.exe and place it somewhere in your PATH. (You can do this as a pre-build step.)
Run nuget restore which will auto-download all the missing packages.
Run msbuild to build your solution.

Aside: while the new and recommended way to do auto package restore involves less clutter in your version control, it also makes command-line package restore impossible unless you jump through the extra hoop of downloading and running nuget.exe. Progress?

Solution 2:

Nuget's Automatic Package Restore is a feature of the Visual Studio (starting in 2013), not MSBuild. You'll have to run nuget.exe restore if you want to restore packages from the command line.

You can also use the Enable Nuget Package Restore feature, but this is no longer recommended by the nuget folks because it makes intrusive changes to the project files and may cause problems if you build those projects in another solution.

Solution 3:

UPDATED with latest official NuGet documentation as of v3.3.0

Package Restore Approaches

NuGet offers three approaches to using package restore.

Automatic Package Restore is the NuGet team's recommended approach to Package Restore within Visual Studio, and it was introduced in NuGet 2.7. Beginning with NuGet 2.7, the NuGet Visual Studio extension integrates into Visual Studio's build events and restores missing packages when a build begins. This feature is enabled by default, but developers can opt out if desired.

Here's how it works:

On project or solution build, Visual Studio raises an event that a build is beginning within the solution.

NuGet responds to this event and checks for packages.config files included in the solution.

For each packages.config file found, its packages are enumerated and Checked for exists in the solution's packages folder.

Any missing packages are downloaded from the user's configured (and enabled) package sources, respecting the order of the package sources.

As packages are downloaded, they are unzipped into the solution's packages folder.

If you have Nuget 2.7+ installed; it's important to pick one method for > managing Automatic Package Restore in Visual Studio.

Two methods are available:

(Nuget 2.7+): Visual Studio -> Tools -> Package Manager -> Package Manager Settings -> Enable Automatic Package Restore

(Nuget 2.6 and below) Right clicking on a solution and clicking "Enable Package Restore for this solution".

Command-Line Package Restore is required when building a solution from the command-line; it was introduced in early versions of NuGet, but was improved in NuGet 2.7.

nuget.exe restore contoso.sln

The MSBuild-integrated package restore approach is the original Package Restore implementation and though it continues to work in many scenarios, it does not cover the full set of scenarios addressed by the other two approaches.

Solution 4:

It took me some time to figure out the whole picture and I'd like to share here.

Visual Studio has two approaches to use package restore: Automatic Package Restore and MSBuild-Integrated package restore. The 'MSBuild-Integrated Package Restore' restores packages DURING the building process that might cause issues in some scenarios. The 'Automatic Package Restore' is the recommended approach by the NuGet team.

There are several steps to to make 'Automatic Package Restore' work:

In Visual Studio, Tools -> Extensions and Updates, Upgrade NuGet if there is a newer version (Version 2.7 or later)
If you use TFS, in your solution's .nuget folder, remove the NuGet.exe and NuGet.targes files. Then edit NuGet.Config to not check in NuGet packages:
```
<configuration>  
  <solution>  
    <add key="disableSourceControlIntegration" value="true" />  
  </solution>  
</configuration> 
```
If you checked in the solution's packages folder to TFS before, delete the folder and check in the deletion of package folder deletion.

If you don't use TFS, delete the .nuget folder.
In each project file (.csproj or .vbproj) in your solution, remove the line that references NuGet.targets file. The reference looks like this:
```
<Import Project="$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets" Condition="Exists('$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets')" />
```
Remove this line in every project file in your solution.
In Visual Studio menu, either through

Tools -> Options -> Package Manager -> General or Tools -> NuGet Package Manager -> Package Manager Settings

please enable the following two options 1) 'Allow NuGet to download missing packages' 2) 'Automatically check for missing packages during build in Visual Studio'
Test your package restore configuration by the following steps
- Save your solution and close Visual Studio
- Delete your solution's packages folder
- Start Visual Studio, open your solution and rebuild it.