The imported project C:\...\v4.5\Microsoft.Expression.Blend.WPF.targets" was not found

Question

I was developing my WPF projects using Visual Studio 2013 in my old window 7. But when I installed new Windows 10 and also Visual Studio 2017 and tried to open my project; my project fail to load and got this error message:

the imported project "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\MSBuild\Microsoft\Expression\Blend.NETFramework\v4.5\Microsoft.Expression.Blend.WPF.targets" was not found. Also, tried to fiend "Microsoft\Expression\Blend.NetFramework\v.4.5\Microsoft.Expression.Blend.WPF.targets in the fallback searchpath(s) for $(MSBuildExtensionsPath) - "C:\Progam Files (x86)\MSBuild" . These search paths are defined in "C:\Users\AdminPC\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\15.0_51bebed7\devenv.exe.config" . Confirm that the path in the declaration is correct , and that the file exists on the disk in one of the search paths. C:\Users\AdminPC\Documents\Visual Studio 2013\Projects\MyCustomMessages\MyCustomMessages.csproj

I Searched for some solutions I found I have to install BlendWPFSDKv4_en.msi Version 4, but still doesn't help also there is no BlendWPFSDKv4_en.msi version 4.5. What Should I do, Shall I install VS 2013 in order to fix this issue?

Answer 1

The imported project C:\…\v4.5\Microsoft.Expression.Blend.WPF.targets" was not found

Found it. You should launch the Visual Studio Installer from the start menu, switch to the "Individual components" page, under the "SDKs, libraries, and frameworks" heading, find the "Blend for Visual Studio SDK for .NET" and install it:

After the installation is complete, you will find it under the path:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\MSBuild\Microsoft\Expression\Blend.NETFramework\v4.5

Certified:Visual Studio 2017 - What happened to Expression interactions?

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

You can remove the reference to blend;

1. With VS 2019 - Right click on the (unloaded/load failed) project.

2. Select - edit your *****.csproj file.

3. At the bottom of the file, remove the following line

   <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\Microsoft\Expression\Blend\.NETFramework\v4.5\Microsoft.Expression.Blend.WPF.targets" />
   

4. Save, Reload the project & happiness.