Where is the nuget packages folder located on a hosted build server using TFS?

Question

I need to execute a command line utility from a package that is downloaded as part of nuget package restore in the TFS build process.

On my local computer that is stored in c:\users\me.nuget*

I've tried every permutation of that on TFS without success. I've also tried \mydir\packages with no success as well.

The biggest problem is that I have to run the package restore step before being able to see any sort of feedback from the log. That's some slow debugging.

Any ideas? Thanks ahead.

Answer 1

With the latest nuget/msbuild the packages folder is held under the active user's profile directory, so an appropriate Powershell command is

Get-ChildItem $(UserProfile)\.nuget\packages 

This currently evaluates on the VSTS 2017 Hosted build agent to C:\Users\VssAdministrator\.nuget\packages but by using the variable you are insulated from any changes made.

Answer 2

Just an addition to @Paul Hatcher's answer:

I also faced the same problem in Azure DevOps build pipeline where a specific package and nuget packages directory could not be found. It is a Xamarin.Forms app based on a .net standard library where no packages folder exists. I later noticed in build logs that the packages are restored to nuget folder under user's profile. However this particular case is not documented on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/pipelines/build/variables?view=vsts#agent-variables.

That means @Paul Hatcher's answer is also valid if you try to reference nuget package folder directly from your build pipeline. This ($(UserProfile).nuget\packages) should actually be a (standard) predefined build variable.

Answer 3

The Nuget package cache folder is in C:\Users\buildguest.nuget\packages, but it will be cleaned after build if you are using Hosted build server. The simple way to verify:

1. Add NuGet restore or .Net Core Restore build step to restore packages
2. Add PowerShell build step to list files in C:\Users\buildguest.nuget\packages

Code:

Get-ChildItem -Path C:\Users\buildguest\.nuget\packages

3. Queue build and check the PowerShell step log (the packages’ will be listed in the log)
4. Remove/disable NuGet restore or .Net Core Restore build step > Save build definition
5. Queue build
6. The build will be failed, because the path does not exist.

So, the packages need to be restored before build solution/project if aren’t existing. You can add packages to source control and map to build agent to deal with the issue of too long time takes to restore packages.