Target named 'Build' not found

Question

I'm trying to build simple F# console program, using FAKE build tool which include MSBuild tool, but I got the following:

FSProject.fsproj: error : Target named 'Build' not found in the project.

How can I resolve this?

I'm using VS2013 and .NET 4.5

Answer 1

The problem was caused by the fact that FAKE build tool I used, uses older MSBuild tool version from c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319. But VS2013 F# projects can be builded only with new version of MSBuild installed in [ProgramFilesX86]\MSBuild\12.0\bin.

So, how to fix this issue in FAKE tool:

You should change FAKE.exe.config according to this

i.e. change MSBuildPath setting to actual path.

Answer 2

To found the issue, you can created your own Build-target to the fsproj-file first:

<Target Name="Build">
    <Message Text="Ext = $(MSBuildExtensionsPath)" />
    <Message Text="Tools = $(MSBuildToolsVersion)" />
    <Message Text="msb32 = $(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)" />
    <Message Text="targ = $(TargetFrameworkIdentifier)" />
    <Message Text="fs = $(FSharpTargetsPath)" />
    <Message Text="vs = $(VisualStudioVersion)" />
</Target>  

The issue is probably that there is a condition saying something like

  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' != '11.0'">
    <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
  </PropertyGroup>

but with recent Visual Studio the condition is not met or the path is actually somewhere else, like in VisualStudio\v$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\FSharp\ and not in VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\FSharp\ so as a quick fix you can fallback it to something else like

  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' != '11.0' And Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\FSharp\')">
    <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(VisualStudioVersion)\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(VisualStudioVersion)' != '11.0' And Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\FSharp\')">
    <FSharpTargetsPath>$(MSBuildExtensionsPath32)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\FSharp\Microsoft.FSharp.Targets</FSharpTargetsPath>
  </PropertyGroup>