run-windows broken after updating to Visual Studio 16.8

[dstampher]

Just following the official react-native-windows Getting Started guide and the example project won't build. I also followed all of the instructions for installing the dependencies found here: https://microsoft.github.io/react-native-windows/docs/rnw-dependencies

Environment

npx react-native --version
4.13.0

npx react-native info
info Fetching system and libraries information...
System:
OS: Windows 10 10.0.19041
CPU: (8) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz
Memory: 9.26 GB / 15.95 GB
Binaries:
Node: 12.18.4 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.EXE
Yarn: 1.22.5 - C:\Program Files (x86)\Yarn\bin\yarn.CMD
npm: 6.14.6 - C:\Program Files\nodejs\npm.CMD
Watchman: Not Found
SDKs:
Android SDK: Not Found
Windows SDK:
AllowAllTrustedApps: Disabled
AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense: Enabled
Versions: 10.0.17763.0, 10.0.18362.0
IDEs:
Android Studio: Not Found
Visual Studio: 16.8.30709.132 (Visual Studio Community 2019)
Languages:
Java: Not Found
Python: 3.8.6
npmPackages:
@react-native-community/cli: Not Found
react: 16.13.1 => 16.13.1
react-native: 0.63.3 => 0.63.3
react-native-windows: ^0.63.0-0 => 0.63.8
npmGlobalPackages:
react-native: Not Found

Steps To Reproduce

1. Follow steps at https://microsoft.github.io/react-native-windows/docs/getting-started up to running the npx react-native run-windows command.

Expected Results

The Getting Started example app to run on my desktop.

npx react-native run-windows --logging output (github won't let me post the entire output, but here is the error):

× Building Solution
× Build failed with message 11>C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\5.0.100\Sdks\Microsoft.NET.Sdk\targets\Microsoft.PackageDependencyResolution.targets(241,5): error NETSDK1005: Assets file 'c:\Users\david\Projects\testProj\node_modules\react-native-windows\Microsoft.ReactNative.Managed.CodeGen\obj\project.assets.json' doesn't have a target for 'netcoreapp3.1'. Ensure that restore has run and that you have included 'netcoreapp3.1' in the TargetFrameworks for your project. [c:\Users\david\Projects\testProj\node_modules\react-native-windows\Microsoft.ReactNative.Managed.CodeGen\Microsoft.ReactNative.Managed.CodeGen.csproj]. Check your build configuration.
See C:\Users\david\AppData\Local\Temp\msbuild_6944.err

[welber91]

Same problem

[asklar]

Looks like the Visual Studio 16.8 upgrade broke this. @dannyvv is taking a look

[qmatteoq]

@dstampher I'm getting the same problem. As a temporary workaround, if you open the solution in the windows folder with Visual Studio and you deploy the application from there, you should be able to complete the build without errors.

Then you have to manually launch the package by running:

yarn start

from the project's folder. As last step, launch the application that has been deployed from the Start menu.

[tscizzlebg]

I am also running into this.

I saw somewhere that running Visual Studio for the first might help (it was true that I had installed it via Powershell and never actually opened it). Just starting Visual Studio wasn't enough but I specifically opened the solution for my new React Native Windows project and then when I ran npx react-native run-windows again it worked! But it only worked once, and no longer after that first time. Tried via command line, and via Visual Studio Code, and no luck.

[asklar]

Danny fixed it for the master branch (thanks Danny!) - requesting backport to 0.63

[asklar]

Should be fixed in 0.63 now too. Linking the VS ticket that tracks this (since it is not specific to React Native for Windows):
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/1248649/error-netsdk1005-assets-file-projectassetsjson-doe.html