EntityDeploySplit error - Microsoft.Data.Entity.Build.Tasks.dll missing

Question

After a clean Windows reformat and installing Visual Studio 2013, trying to build a project with database-first Entity Framework edmx files yields the following error:

Answer 1

I ran into this problem and was able to fix it as I have described below. Your paths and variables may be different.

I found that when my project builds it points to this target file:

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin\Microsoft.Data.Entity.targets

That target file appears to just be a placeholder. There is an Import element, in that file, that points to $(MSBuildFrameworkToolsPath)\Microsoft.Data.Entity.targets which runs the target file located at that path. I searched registry and found that MSBuildFrameworkToolsPath is a registry entry with the value of C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\

I went to the targets file that was referenced and search for the UsingTask element that was specified in my exception. Inside the UsingTask element, the AssemblyFile attribute was pointed to $(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.Data.Entity.Build.Tasks.dll. I searched the registry and found that the MSBuildBinPath registry entry was pointed to c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\

I'm not sure why it was pointed to that, maybe a Framework or Visual Studio installation didn't clean it up. Finally, I changed all my UsingTask elements' AssemblyFile attributes to:

$(MSBuildFrameworkToolsPath)\Microsoft.Data.Entity.Build.Tasks.dll

I used the same variable that was in the MSBuild Bin target file.

Hope this helps.