Error 1 File 'Windows.props' not found. Visual Studio 2013 Premium

I'm getting the error Error 1 File 'Windows.props' not found. every time I try to build a JS Store app (Windows, Windows Phone or Universal).

I've been getting this error ever since i installed the 'Windows Phone 8.1 Emulator', I have tried restoring my PC to a previous state (a day before the installation), repairing multiple times, removing the Emulator, re-installing Visual Studio and I have also tried building on a different user account.

According to a few sources on the internet the windows.props file should be located in the following directory.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Phone Kits\8.1\References\CommonConfiguration\Neutral\

Its not located in that directory. But I did locate the Windows.props file in the following directory.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Phone Kits\8.1\DesignTime\CommonConfiguration\Neutral\

There is a Stackoverflow question similar to this but I couldn't find an answer that helped me.

Here is the information contained in my registry

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\WindowsPhone\v8.1\Install Path was set to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v8.1\

and

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\WindowsPhoneApp\v8.1\Install Path was set to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\WindowsPhoneApp\v8.1\

The complete error is

C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v12.0\AppxPackage\Microsoft.AppXPackage.Tar‌gets(561,9): error APPX1639: File 'Windows.props' not found. See go.microsoft.com/fwlink/… for more information

aleks

Posted 2014-06-24T15:31:57.203

Reputation: 11

@Ramhound no the error only provides a <a hre="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?prd=12395&pver=1.0&plcid=0x409&ar=MSDN&sar=PlatformMultiTargeting&o1=Windows&o2=8.1">link</a>. I tried copying it from C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Phone Kits\8.1\DesignTime\CommonConfiguration\Neutral\ but it still gives the same error. – aleks – 2014-06-24T15:35:42.807

Be sure you have VS2013 Update 2 installed – Ramhound – 2014-06-24T15:41:15.317

You have two options. Place the file indicated by the current registry value or change the registry value to the current location of the file. Can you please take 2-3 minutes and format the question so its not a huge block of text? – Ramhound – 2014-06-24T15:57:09.167

@Ramhound what do you mean by "Place the file indicated by the current registry value"? – aleks – 2014-06-24T15:59:50.450

The build script is attempting to locate the file in the following location C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\WindowsPhoneApp\v8.1 and since its actually located in C:\Program Files (x86) Windows Phone Kits\8.1\DesignTime\CommonConfiguration\Neutral the build script fails. Using the verbose logging would have indicated this. – Ramhound – 2014-06-24T16:03:31.130

@Ramhound There are 3-4 windows.props files on my PC, I think the windows.props in C:\Program Files (x86) Windows Phone Kits\8.1\DesignTime\CommonConfiguration\Neutral is in the right place. the closest file to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\WindowsPhoneApp\v8.1 is in C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Portable\v12.0\DesignTime\CommonConfiguration\Neutral – aleks – 2014-06-24T16:07:31.350

@Ramhound OK so 1. the files are different. 2. after copying the file I am still getting the same error – aleks – 2014-06-24T16:16:29.490

are you talking about the build output? there's nothing like $(TargetPlatformWinMDLocation) in that – aleks – 2014-06-24T16:28:07.410

If TargetPlatformWinMDLocation = is not in the build output you have not enabled verbose logging like I requested. – Ramhound – 2014-06-24T16:29:27.187

Hans Passant talks about it in the question you linked to, which I found, before I realized you linked to it. Everything I have ask for is contained in his answer. If you have not already restarted Visual Studio after moving files or changing registry keys you should do that. Verbose logging

– Ramhound – 2014-06-24T16:33:04.233

Ctrl+A to select everything then use Ctrl+C to copy what is selected then use Ctrl+V into notepad then Ctrl+F to find the text I am asking about. – Ramhound – 2014-06-24T16:40:22.713

With the verbose build output? It sounds like you should perform a clean install of Visual Studio 2013 and make sure you install Update 2. Because the macro in question is required. – Ramhound – 2014-06-24T16:44:26.057

Error 1 File 'Windows.props' not found. Visual Studio 2013 Premium

Answers