Invalid static method invocation syntax: "[MSBuild]::IsRunningFromVisualStudio()"

Question

After upgrading to Visual Studio 2017 15.5 none of my project will load correctly. All are marked unavailable.

I'm getting the following error for every project:

error : Invalid static method invocation syntax: "[MSBuild]::IsRunningFromVisualStudio()". Method '[MSBuild]::IsRunningFromVisualStudio' not found. Static method invocation should be of the form: $([FullTypeName]::Method()), e.g. $([System.IO.Path]::Combine(a, b)). C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Common.CurrentVersion.targets

Reloading project produces this error prompt:

Adding new projects produce this error prompt:

Answer 1

1. Close all running instances of Visual Studio 2017

2. Launch (as Administrator) "Developer Command Prompt for VS 2017"

3. Type the following commands (replace Professional with your edition, either Enterprise or Community, or adjust the path accordingly):

gacutil /i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Build.Framework.dll"

gacutil /i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Build.dll"

gacutil /i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Build.Engine.dll"

gacutil /i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Build.Conversion.Core.dll"

gacutil /i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core.dll"

gacutil /i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\15.0\Bin\Microsoft.Build.Utilities.Core.dll"

4. Restart Visual Studio 2017

Answer 2

It seems from the responses to this issue on github that it is often caused by having an older version of MSBuild in the GAC. This will then be used in preference to the bundled version that ships with the updated version of VS.

The solution is to remove the old version of Microsoft.Build from the gac.

1. Find the gac'd versions:

   gacutil /l | findstr Microsoft.Build

2. Look for any of version 15.x.x.x and then remove them:

   gacutil /u "Microsoft.Build, Version=15.{version_found}"

3. Restart Visual Studio

It may also be necessary to remove the related assemblies Microsoft.Build.Utilities.Core, Microsoft.Build.Framework and Microsoft.Build.Tasks.Core of that version.