This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer

I have an ASP.NET MVC5 application that worked yesterday and now I am getting this error when I try to build:

This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer.

I have the two options checked that allow nuget to automatically download and install missing packages checked / turned ON. I have also tried deleting all of the files in the packages folder and then have nuget re-download them. Also when I open nuget and look for updates it says there are none that need to be installed. I can't figure what else to do to move beyond this amazingly annoying issue.

I have also enabled nuget restore by right clicking the project and selecting that option. It then added a nuget folder and three items in that folder and does nothing to resolve the problem. I've tried re-building and still get the same error.

In my case, I had to remove the following from the .csproj file:

<Import Project="$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets" Condition="Exists('$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets')" />
<Target Name="EnsureNuGetPackageBuildImports" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ErrorText>This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer. Enable NuGet Package Restore to download them.  For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=322105. The missing file is {0}.</ErrorText>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Error Condition="!Exists('$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets'))" />
</Target>

In fact, in this snippet you can see where the error message is coming from.

I was converting from MSBuild-Integrated Package Restore to Automatic Package Restore (http://docs.nuget.org/docs/workflows/migrating-to-automatic-package-restore)

One solution would be to remove from the .csproj file the following:

<Import Project="$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets" Condition="Exists('$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets')" />
<Target Name="EnsureNuGetPackageBuildImports" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ErrorText>This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer. Enable NuGet Package Restore to download them.  For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=322105. The missing file is {0}.</ErrorText>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <Error Condition="!Exists('$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '$(SolutionDir)\.nuget\NuGet.targets'))" />
</Target>

How?

1. Right click on project. Unload Project.
2. Right click on project. Edit csproj.
3. Remove the part from the file. Save.
4. Right click on project. Reload Project.

In my case it happened after I moved my solution folder from one location to another, re-organized it a bit and in the process its relative folder structure changed.

So I had to edit all entries similar to the following one in my .csproj file from

  <Import Project="..\packages\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.1.0.14\tools\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.targets" Condition="Exists('..\packages\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.1.0.14\tools\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.targets')" />

to

  <Import Project="packages\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.1.0.14\tools\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.targets" Condition="Exists('packages\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.1.0.14\tools\Microsoft.Bcl.Build.targets')" />

(Note the change from ..\packages\ to packages\. It might be a different relative structure in your case, but you get the idea.)