How to fix '"CheckAttributes" task could not be loaded'-error after installing Visual Studio 2013 Update 4

Question

After installing Update 4, I now find myself unable to build (or even clean) any solution. I keep getting:

Error 1 The "CheckPathAttributes" task could not be loaded from the assembly C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll. Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.Tasks.dll' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. Confirm that the declaration is correct, that the assembly and all its dependencies are available, and that the task contains a public class that implements Microsoft.Build.Framework.ITask. HandlePageNotFound

Does anyone know how to resolve this please?

Answer 1

Well, here's "my solution".

First the horrific "prompt of death" (plus the same "licensing issue" annoyance) in this post:

What I've attempted (and result) based on info from the interwebs:

1. Close VS 2013 and rename the folder:
   C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache
   
   Result: No effect/errors persist (VS will re-create that folder on startup)

2. Rerun the Visual Studio Update 4 installer and Repair
   
   Result: Successfully "fixed" whatever it was.
   This will take about an hour which is slower than when I originally installed the update so that was a clue, or rather, more like "well, I hope that means it found what it did wrong or forgot/missed out on" (and not, "oh crap, now I'm really screwing things up even more")

A quick summary of my environment so that hopefully will guide you to your solution:

• I did install Office Developer Tools Nov 2014 prior to the Update so in my case, that wasn't the issue (I did not remove/uninstall)

• I have Resharper, and I did not disable it, so this too doesn't seem related (some have pointed this out)

• I did update to Web Essentials 2013 for Update 4 after the initial Update (it will prompt you to after installing VS Update 4). I didn't do anything after the Repair (didn't remove/re-install/etc Web Essentials after the Repair).

• I have VS 2012 as well, just mentioning this though that was never affected in any way (and was my fallback while this issue was stopping me from using VS2013)

Hth...