csproj is Missing Root Element

Question

I am trying to open a project I downloaded from Github, but I am told that the csproj's root element is missing. I tried following the instructions from this link

http://www.howtosolutions.net/2013/02/solving-project-file-error-could-not-find-part-of-the-path-with-visual-studio/

but was unable to change the file path. I was also told that the project should open when you delete the suo and user file, but it didn't work when deleting the suo file and I was unable to find the user file. Have also tried opening the same project on my vm, and it opens properly there so the issue has to be with my Visual Studio 2015. Does anybody have suggestions as to fix my issue?

Also by request, here is the some of the csproj file

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="14.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
  <PropertyGroup>
        <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
        <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">x86</Platform>
        <ProjectGuid>{DC30CE66-DAEE-4CCF-BD02-8837FE918B6F}</ProjectGuid>
        <OutputType>AppContainerExe</OutputType>
        <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
        <RootNamespace>SDKTemplate</RootNamespace>
        <AssemblyName>BarcodeScanner</AssemblyName>
        <DefaultLanguage>en-US</DefaultLanguage>
        <TargetPlatformIdentifier>UAP</TargetPlatformIdentifier>
        <TargetPlatformVersion>10.0.10586.0</TargetPlatformVersion>
        <TargetPlatformMinVersion>10.0.10240.0</TargetPlatformMinVersion>
        <MinimumVisualStudioVersion>14</MinimumVisualStudioVersion>
        <EnableDotNetNativeCompatibleProfile>true</EnableDotNetNativeCompatibleProfile>
        <FileAlignment>512</FileAlignment>
        <ProjectTypeGuids>{A5A43C5B-DE2A-4C0C-9213-0A381AF9435A};{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}</ProjectTypeGuids>
  </PropertyGroup>

Could you include the top of the csproj file? This would help us to see if it is malformed. It can be opened with any text editor. — Peter Rasmussen, Feb 01 '16 at 20:06
I don't see anything out of the ordinary.. Have you tried to run it through a xml validator? — Peter Rasmussen, Feb 01 '16 at 20:30

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 01 '16 at 23:12

If you haven't forgotten the last line, the solution is actually quite simple: You are missing the XML closing tag for the Project element.

At the end of the file, check if there is a </Project>, if not, please add it (after the </ProjectGroup> line),save the file and try opening it again with Visual Studio.

csproj is Missing Root Element

1 Answers1