Is it possible to change the location of packages

Question

I have the following convention for most of my projects:

/src
    /Solution.sln
    /SolutionFolder
        /Project1
        /Project2
        /etc..
/lib
    /Moq
        moq.dll
        license.txt
    /Yui-Compressor
        yui.compressor.dll
/tools
    /ILMerge
        ilmerge.exe

You'll notice that I do not keep external libraries inside the source folder. I'm also very interested in using NuGet but don't want these external libraries inside the source folder. Does NuGet have a setting to change the directory that all packages are loaded into?

Answer 1

1. Created a file called "nuget.config".
2. Added that file to my solutions folder

this did NOT work for me:

<configuration>
  <config>
    <add key="repositoryPath" value="..\ExtLibs\Packages" />
  </config>
  ... 
</configuration>

this did WORK for me:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<settings>
  <repositoryPath>..\ExtLibs\Packages</repositoryPath>
</settings>

Answer 2

Okay for the sake of anyone else reading this post - here is what I understand of the myriad of answers above:

1. The nuget.config file in the .nuget folder is relative to that folder. This is important because if your new folder is something like '../Packages' that will put it where it always goes out of the box. As @bruce14 states you must do '../../Packages' instead

2. I could not get the latest nuget (2.8.5) to find a packages folder outside of the standard location without enabling package restore. So once you enable package restore then the following should be added to the nuget.config file inside of the .nuget folder to change the location:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <configuration>
     ...
     <config>
       <add key="repositoryPath" value="..\..\Packages" />
     </config>
     ...
   </configuration>
   

3. (This is important) If you make ANY changes to the package folder location inside of the nuget.config files you must restart visual studio or close/reload the solution for the changes to take effect

Answer 3

A solution for Nuget 3.2 on Visual Studio 2015 is:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
    <config>
        <add key="repositoryPath" value="../lib" />
    </config>
</configuration>

Using forward slash for parent folder. Save above file (nuget.config) in solution folder.

Reference is available here

Answer 4

It's now possible to control which folder the packages are installed into.

http://nuget.codeplex.com/workitem/215

Edit: See Phil Haack's comment on Dec 10 2010 at 11:45 PM (in the work item/the link above). The support is partially implemented in 1.0, but is not documented.

According to @dfowler: Add a nuget.config file next to the solution with this:

<settings>
<repositoryPath>{some path here}</repositoryPath>
</settings>

There is a nuget package for creating the package folder override.

Update for version 2.1

As Azat commented, there is now official documentation on how to control the package locations. The release notes for 2.1 specifies the following configuration in a nuget.config file (see the release notes for a description of valid places to put the config files and how the hierarchical configuration model works):

<configuration>
  <config>
    <add key="repositoryPath" value="C:\thePathToMyPackagesFolder" />
  </config>
  ... 
</configuration>

This would change the packages folder for the configuration level you put the file in (solution if you put it in the solution directory, project in project directory and so on). Note that the release notes state:

[...] if you have an existing packages folder underneath your solution root, you will need to delete it before NuGet will place packages in the new location.

Answer 5

None of this answers was working for me (Nuget 2.8.6) because of missing some tips, will try to add them here as it might be useful for others.

After reading the following sources:
https://docs.nuget.org/consume/NuGet-Config-Settings
https://github.com/NuGet/Home/issues/1346
It appears that

1. To make working Install-Package properly with different repositoryPath you need to use forward slashes, it's because they are using Uri object to parse location.
2. Without $ on the begining it was still ignoring my settings.
3. NuGet caches config file, so after modifications you need to reload solution/VS.
4. I had also strange issue while using command of NuGet.exe to set this option, as it modified my global NuGet.exe under AppData\Roaming\NuGet and started to restore packages there (Since that file has higher priority, just guessing).

E.g.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <solution>
    <add key="disableSourceControlIntegration" value="true" />
  </solution>
  <config>
    <add key="repositorypath" value="$/../../../Common/packages" />
  </config>
</configuration>

You can also use NuGet command to ensure that syntax will be correct like this:

NuGet.exe config -Set repositoryPath=$/../../../Common/packages -ConfigFile NuGet.Config

Answer 6

Just updating with Nuget 2.8.3. To change the location of installed packages , I enabled package restore from right clicking solution. Edited NuGet.Config and added these lines :

  <config>
    <add key="repositorypath" value="..\Core\Packages" />
  </config>

Then rebuilt the solution, it downloaded all packages to my desired folder and updated references automatically.