"GetDeploymentPathFromVsixManifest" task failed unexpectedly, cannot debug sample

[tgriff]

Installed products

• Visual Studio: Enterprise 2017 15.5.3

Description

Trying to debug the TypingSpeed sample results in the following error:

error MSB4018: The "GetDeploymentPathFromVsixManifest" task failed unexpectedly.
error MSB4018: System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
error MSB4018: Parameter name: path1
error MSB4018:    at System.IO.Path.Combine(String path1, String path2)
error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.VsSDK.Build.Tasks.ExtensionManagerUtilities.GetSettingsManagerForDevenv(String rootSuffix)
error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.VsSDK.Build.Tasks.GetDeploymentPathFromVsixManifest.Execute()
error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskExecutionHost.Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.ITaskExecutionHost.Execute()
error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.Build.BackEnd.TaskBuilder.<ExecuteInstantiatedTask>d__26.MoveNext()

Steps to recreate

1. Download the samples .zip file and extract the TypingSpeed sample.
2. Double-click the .sln file to open the solution.
3. Hit F5 to build and start debugging the sample extension.

Current behavior

I get the error above and am unable to debug the sample extension.

Expected behavior

It should launch the experimental VS instance with the sample extension installed and the debugger attached.

Other Info

• The "Start external program" path under the Debug settings is "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" which I am certain is correct.
• If I uncheck the "Deploy VSIX content to experimental instance for debugging" option under the VSIX settings then the build succeeds, but I am still unable to debug the sample.

[AlexEyler]

I can't reproduce this on my machine, but I have seen this happen out in the wild in cases where setup is out-of-sync with the installed Visual Studio instances. Have you tried repairing your installation of VS?

[ktrzeciaknubisa]

I had the same problem (although with "Menu_And_Commands" sample). Funny, that I can't reproduce it anymore... Things started to work since I rebuilded the sample while running VS 2017 as Administrator on Windows.

[osnjunior91]

I was having this error, after updating the dependencies of the project via Nuget, the error disappeared.

[NecromancerKing]

I was having this error, after updating the dependencies of the project via Nuget, the error disappeared.

Thank you @osnjunior91 . Updating Nuget packages to latest solved the issue in my case.