Why do I get the error “The target GatherAllFilesT

Question

I have recently installed the new Azure development tools for Visual Studio 2010 service pack 1. Every time that I try to publish an existing website (using file system deployment) I get the following error:

The target "GatherAllFilesToPublish" does not exist in the project.

Can anyone tell me what I am missing?

Thanks

Answer 1

If editing in VS2012 (Visual Studio 2012) a VS2010 project try this. Edit the csproj file from:

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

And change to:

<Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v11.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" />

Answer 2

Guys I'm terribly sorry you are running into this issue.

I think that I know what the issue is. When you install the Azure SDK bits it installs some VS Web Publish updates. One of these updates the file at C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets. Based on how our setup is defined if that file has an updated timestamp (for whatever reason) then when you install the new component the file does not get updated.

To resolve this you should be able to follow the steps below:

• Rename the Microsoft.WebApplication.targets to Microsoft.WebApplication.targets.bak
• Install/Repair using the exe at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=253458

Can you try it out and let me know if it works or not?

Answer 3

I have the same issue in VS2013, the solution I found was by creating a new empty web application project can copying the following lines from it into my old website project: At the top:

<Project ToolsVersion="12.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />

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

Answer 4

Removing these installations solved the issue for me:

• Microsoft Web Publish - Visual Web Developer Express 2010
• Microsoft Web Publish - Visual Studio 2010

Reference

Answer 5

I realize this in an old question, but I ran into it recently and here is how I solved it.

Background: I had an old project that I upgraded to VS studio 13. It looks like the project file wasn't upgraded properly.

There are references to VS v10.0, in the csproj file, but I am running VS 13 which is really "v12.0".

So I told the csproj file to use the "v12.0" folder, not a "v10.0" folder.

This is what I had:

<PropertyGroup>
  <VisualStudioVersion Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == ''">10.0</VisualStudioVersion>
  <VSToolsPath Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)</VSToolsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<Import Project="$(SolutionDir)\..\BuildTools\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' != ''" />
<Import Project="$(SolutionDir)\..\BuildTools\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="false" />

This is what I changed it into:

<PropertyGroup>
  <VisualStudioVersion Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == ''">12.0</VisualStudioVersion>
  <VSToolsPath Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)</VSToolsPath>
</PropertyGroup>
<Import Project="$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
<Import Project="$(VSToolsPath)\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' != ''" />

Now my publishing to the filesystem works!

Answer 6

Same issue I have Fixed. Please check if some files are missing into solution. if you are facing error like Error - The target "GatherAllFilesToPublish" does not exist in the project. Then just open .proj file and delete this line <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" Condition="false" />

You get actual error or those missing files into solution