[msbuild] Microsoft.WebApplication.targets was not found, on the build server. What's your solution?

It seems the new version of msbuild does not ship with Microsoft.WebApplication.targets. To fix you need to update your csproj file as so:

1) Edit the web app csproj (right click). Find the section in the csproj towards the bottom concerning build tools. It should look like so.

<PropertyGroup>  
  <VisualStudioVersion Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == ''">10.0</VisualStudioVersion>
</PropertyGroup>  
<Import Project="$(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" />  

2) You need to add one VSToolsPath line below the VisualStudioVersion tag so it looks like so

<PropertyGroup>  
  <VisualStudioVersion Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' == ''">10.0</VisualStudioVersion>
  <!--Add the below line to fix the project loading in VS 2017 -->
  <VSToolsPath Condition="'$(VSToolsPath)' == ''">$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)</VSToolsPath>
  <!--End -->
</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" />  

Reference link: https://alastaircrabtree.com/cannot-open-vs-2015-web-project-in-vs-2017/

Examples related to msbuild

How can I install the VS2017 version of msbuild on a build server without installing the IDE? The default XML namespace of the project must be the MSBuild XML namespace The CodeDom provider type "Microsoft.CodeDom.Providers.DotNetCompilerPlatform.CSharpCodeProvider" could not be located Visual Studio 2013 error MS8020 Build tools v140 cannot be found Getting msbuild.exe without installing Visual Studio Found conflicts between different versions of the same dependent assembly that could not be resolved This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer NuGet auto package restore does not work with MSBuild The builds tools for v120 (Platform Toolset = 'v120') cannot be found error LNK2038: mismatch detected for '_MSC_VER': value '1600' doesn't match value '1700' in CppFile1.obj

Examples related to .net-4.0

TLS 1.2 in .NET Framework 4.0 Is it possible to run a .NET 4.5 app on XP? What and When to use Tuple? Fixing slow initial load for IIS Exception: "URI formats are not supported" What is the best way to implement a "timer"? Twitter Bootstrap and ASP.NET GridView How can I convert this foreach code to Parallel.ForEach? "This assembly is built by a runtime newer than the currently loaded runtime and cannot be loaded" Differences between .NET 4.0 and .NET 4.5 in High level in .NET

Examples related to build-server

How can I install the VS2017 version of msbuild on a build server without installing the IDE? Microsoft.WebApplication.targets was not found, on the build server. What's your solution? Team Build Error: The Path ... is already mapped to workspace

Examples related to targets

Redirecting new tab on button click.(Response.Redirect) in asp.net C# How do you get the list of targets in a makefile? Microsoft.WebApplication.targets was not found, on the build server. What's your solution?

Examples related to dbproj

Microsoft.WebApplication.targets was not found, on the build server. What's your solution?