Error Running MSBuild

Question

I've started getting the following error when attempting to run MSBuild via batch file on my machine.

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0\AppxPackage\Microsoft.AppXPackage.Targets(283,22): error MSB4086: A numeric comparison was attempted on "10.0.11000.0" that evaluates to "10.0.11000.0" instead of a number, in condition "'$(TargetPlatformVersion)' >= '10.0.11000.0'". [MyProject.csproj]

This happens on several different projects within the solution.

I'm currently running VS2015 (Update 3). I updated from Update 2 on Friday. So it's possible that this could be related.

Based on various posts online (such as this one) it appears to have been (at some point in the past at least) caused by Resharper. However, I have updated Resharper to the latest version, and run a repair on the install, to no avail. I've even attempted to suspend it within Visual Studio itself.

I've also attempted to repair the VS215 installation itself. But am still getting the error.

How do I solve this error?

Update

So When I run this batch file, it's running using VisualStudioVersion=12.0. This appears to be part of the issue. When I repoint it at 12.0 the build runs fine.

Checking into the targets file thats throwing the exception, you can see this on line 283:

<PropertyGroup>
  <SdkIsRS1OrLater>False</SdkIsRS1OrLater>
  <SdkIsRS1OrLater 
    Condition="'$(TargetPlatformVersion)' &gt;= '10.0.11000.0'">True</SdkIsRS1OrLater>
</PropertyGroup>

So I'm not entirely sure why this is the case, but it appears to be an issue in the targets file from MS?

Answer 1

Try setting the path and environment variables using the batch file shipped with VS2015 rather than setting the msbuild path and 'VisualStudioVersion' manually, to do this add the following to your batch file:

call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\VC\vcvarsall.bat"

I'm not sure what the root cause is, I suspect a mismatch of MSBuild and target file versions.

See https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/f2ccy3wt.aspx for more info on the batch file above.