"Visual Studio update required" but its up to date

Question

I have a fresh install of Visual Studio 2015 community with Windows 10 UWP SDK running in my computer. Recently I tried to open a project that I imported from another computer and when I launch the solution I get the next error message:

Review Solution Actions

Visual Studio update required One or more projects require a platform SDK (UAP, Version: 10.0.10586.0) that is either not installed or is included as pat of a future update to Visual Studio.

Install the platform SDK to open these projects.

When I click Ok, I see that all my projects in the solution explorer have the text (update required) next to them.

And when I click it, it takes me to the Windows 10 SDK download page to download an SDK that I have already installed over and over again. I have also repaired the solution more than once. And finally I have reinstalled the Visual Studio 2015 again from scratch.

What can I do to make my project work again?

Answer 1

This error is very misleading. I spent many precious hours trying to fix it. If you are certain that your Visual Studio is up to date, you do not need to update nor repair the Visual Studio 2015.

Please follow the next steps:

1. Click Ok on the Error message.

2. Go to your solution explorer and right click on your projects with the (update required) tag.

3. Right click the Project and select the option: "Edit MyProject.csproj"

4. Edit all the appearances to the Windows 10 SDK to a lower version like 10.0.10240.0

From this:

<SDKReference Include="WindowsDesktop, Version=10.0.10586.0">
  <Name>Windows Desktop Extensions for the UWP</Name>
</SDKReference>
<SDKReference Include="WindowsMobile, Version=10.0.10586.0">
  <Name>Windows Mobile Extensions for the UWP</Name>
</SDKReference>

<TargetPlatformIdentifier>UAP</TargetPlatformIdentifier>
<TargetPlatformVersion>10.0.10586.0</TargetPlatformVersion>
<TargetPlatformMinVersion>10.0.10240.0</TargetPlatformMinVersion>

To something like this:

<SDKReference Include="WindowsDesktop, Version=10.0.10240.0">
  <Name>Windows Desktop Extensions for the UWP</Name>
</SDKReference>
<SDKReference Include="WindowsMobile, Version=10.0.10240.0">
  <Name>Windows Mobile Extensions for the UWP</Name>
</SDKReference>

<TargetPlatformIdentifier>UAP</TargetPlatformIdentifier>
<TargetPlatformVersion>10.0.10240.0</TargetPlatformVersion>
<TargetPlatformMinVersion>10.0.10240.0</TargetPlatformMinVersion>

Repeat for all the projects in your solution, and reload the projects multiple times (VS has a problema to refresh its structure), you have to be patient and probably restart it a couple of times.

And you are good to go! For more info please review this page: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Mt148501.aspx#RCUpdate10CSharp