Visual Studio 2015 cannot create Release builds for Cordova project

Question

I am using Visual Studio 2015 for Cordova Tools to build an app that targets Windows Universal (UWP) and Android.

I can successfully create Debug builds for both Android and UWP, Release build works for Android as well.

However Visual Studio fails to create Release builds for UWP, none of the Windows-AnyCPU, Windows x86, Windows x64 and Windows ARM options works.

When creating Release builds for Windows-AnyCPU, the error message is like:

1>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\Microsoft.NetNative.targets(133,5): error MSB3779: The processor architecture of the project being built "Any CPU" is not supported by the referenced SDK "Microsoft.NET.Native.Framework.1.2, Version=1.2". Please consider changing the targeted processor architecture of your project (in Visual Studio this can be done through the Configuration Manager) to one of the architectures supported by the SDK: "x86, x64, ARM". [C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\platforms\windows\CordovaApp.Windows10.jsproj]
1>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\Microsoft.NetNative.targets(133,5): error MSB3779: The processor architecture of the project being built "Any CPU" is not supported by the referenced SDK "Microsoft.NET.Native.Runtime.1.1, Version=1.1". Please consider changing the targeted processor architecture of your project (in Visual Studio this can be done through the Configuration Manager) to one of the architectures supported by the SDK: "x86, x64, ARM". [C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\platforms\windows\CordovaApp.Windows10.jsproj]
1>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\Microsoft.NetNative.targets(248,5): error MSB4062: The "IlcErrorTask" task could not be loaded from the assembly C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\x86\ilc\ilc.exe. Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\x86\ilc\ilc.exe' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. Confirm that the <UsingTask> 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. [C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\platforms\windows\CordovaApp.Windows10.jsproj]
1>MDAVSCLI : error : Error code 1 for command: C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\bin\amd64\msbuild with args: C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\platforms\windows\CordovaApp.Windows10.jsproj,/clp:NoSummary;NoItemAndPropertyList;Verbosity=minimal,/nologo,/p:Configuration=release,/p:Platform=anycpu
1>  Command finished with error code 2: cmd /s /c ""C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\platforms\windows\cordova\build.bat" --release "--buildConfig=C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\build.json" --archs=anycpu --win"
1>ERROR building one of the platforms : error : cmd: Command failed with exit code 2
1>  You may not have the required environment or OS to build this project
1>MDAVSCLI : error : cmd: Command failed with exit code 2

When creating Release builds for Windows x86, Windows x64 or Windows ARM, the error message is like:

1>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\Microsoft.NetNative.targets(669,5): error MSB4062: The "SharedAssemblyApplicabilityVerifierTask" task could not be loaded from the assembly C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\x64\ilc\ilc.exe. Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\x64\ilc\ilc.exe' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. Confirm that the <UsingTask> 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. [C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\platforms\windows\CordovaApp.Windows10.jsproj]
1>C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\Microsoft.NetNative.targets(405,5): error MSB4062: The "ComputeManagedBinaries" task could not be loaded from the assembly C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\x64\ilc\ilc.exe. Could not load file or assembly 'file:///C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\.NetNative\x64\ilc\ilc.exe' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format. Confirm that the <UsingTask> 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. [C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\platforms\windows\CordovaApp.Windows10.jsproj]
1>MDAVSCLI : error : Error code 1 for command: C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\14.0\bin\amd64\msbuild with args: C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\platforms\windows\CordovaApp.Windows10.jsproj,/clp:NoSummary;NoItemAndPropertyList;Verbosity=minimal,/nologo,/p:Configuration=release,/p:Platform=x64
1>  Command finished with error code 2: cmd /s /c ""C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\platforms\windows\cordova\build.bat" --release "--buildConfig=C:\Users\ztl87\Documents\Visual Studio 2015\Projects\UnihanHelper\UnihanHelper\build.json" --archs=x64 --win"
1>ERROR building one of the platforms : error : cmd: Command failed with exit code 2
1>  You may not have the required environment or OS to build this project
1>MDAVSCLI : error : cmd: Command failed with exit code 2

What confuses me is that all of these 4 configurations works fine with Debug builds.

---

Moreover, Visual Studio stops working when I try to associate the app with the Windows Store.

I am using:

• Visual Studio Community 2015 Version 14.0.24720.00 Update 1
• Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova 14.0.51016.1
• Cordova CLI version 5.4.1

I've tried reinstalling Visual Studio, but it didn't work.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I spent hours struggling with this and was able to solve it finally by uninstalling Node 64 bit and installing 32 bit.

Answer 2

You can specify the architecture and the platform you want to build the Windows app in.

cordova build --release windows --appx=[platform] --archs=[architecture]

Options:

• Platform: 8.1-win, 8.1-phone, uap
• Architecture: x86, x64, arm

For Example:

cordova build --release windows --appx=uap --archs=arm

Reference: https://cordova.apache.org/docs/en/latest/guide/platforms/win8/