TFS build Get Sources step fail on WiX Toolset NuGet package

Question

I'm working on a non-XAML TFS build; my solution includes a number of WiX installer projects. I've installed the WiX.Toolset.2015 NuGet package in each installer project. My solution builds successfully in Visual Studio and .msi installer files are produced for each WiX project as expected.

But, when I kick off a TFS build, the Get Sources step returns an error. From the step logs, it appears that the WiX NuGet package content has been successfully copied to my build server (see log extract below, particularly ThmViewer.exe):

2018-07-27T09:25:08.2583873Z D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder]\Source\packages\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503:
2018-07-27T09:25:08.2583873Z Getting content
2018-07-27T09:25:08.2583873Z Getting readme.txt
2018-07-27T09:25:08.2583873Z Getting tools
2018-07-27T09:25:08.2583873Z Getting WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503.nupkg
2018-07-27T09:25:08.2583873Z 
2018-07-27T09:25:08.2583873Z D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder]\Source\packages\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\content:
2018-07-27T09:25:08.2583873Z Getting WiX.Toolset.DummyFile.txt
2018-07-27T09:25:08.3365150Z 
2018-07-27T09:25:08.3365150Z D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder]\Source\packages\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\tools:
2018-07-27T09:25:08.3365150Z Getting Install.ps1
2018-07-27T09:25:08.3365150Z Getting Remove.psm1
2018-07-27T09:25:08.3990132Z Getting Uninstall.ps1
2018-07-27T09:25:08.4615127Z Getting wix
2018-07-27T09:25:08.4615127Z 
2018-07-27T09:25:08.4615127Z D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder]\Source\packages\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\tools\wix:
2018-07-27T09:25:08.4615127Z Getting candle.exe
2018-07-27T09:25:08.5084025Z Getting candle.exe.config
2018-07-27T09:25:08.5396418Z Getting darice.cub
2018-07-27T09:25:08.6490185Z Getting dark.exe
...
2018-07-27T09:25:10.3365325Z Getting smoke.exe.config
2018-07-27T09:25:10.4146591Z Getting ThmViewer.exe ***
2018-07-27T09:25:10.4615352Z Getting torch.exe
...
2018-07-27T09:25:12.5865476Z D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder]\Source\packages\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\tools\wix\doc:
2018-07-27T09:25:12.5865476Z Getting bal.xsd
2018-07-27T09:25:12.7584269Z Getting complus.xsd
2018-07-27T09:25:12.8209262Z Getting Dependency.xsd
2018-07-27T09:25:12.8834264Z Getting difxapp.xsd
...

Then, further down the logs for the same step (Get Sources), we see:

2018-07-27T09:25:35.1492409Z D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder]\Source\packages\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\tools\wix\ThmViewer.exe: Could not find file 'D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder]\Source\packages\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\tools\wix\ThmViewer.exe'.
2018-07-27T09:25:42.2586735Z 
2018-07-27T09:25:42.2586735Z ---- Summary: 0 conflicts, 0 warnings, 1 errors ----
2018-07-27T09:25:42.2586735Z D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder]\Source\packages\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\tools\wix\ThmViewer.exe: Could not find file 'D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder]\Source\packages\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\tools\wix\ThmViewer.exe'. ***
2018-07-27T09:25:42.5868038Z ##[error]Exit code 1 returned from process: file name 'tf', arguments 'vc get /version:887970 /recursive /overwrite D:\[build_folder]\[build_subfolder] /loginType:OAuth /login:.,******** /noprompt'.
2018-07-27T09:25:42.6024247Z ##[section]Finishing: Get Sources

I have other NuGet packages installed in other projects in this solution; all other sources are recovered without issue. I've double-checked the packages source folder on my local machine and the ThmViewer.exe is in the \\packages\\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\\tools\\wix folder as expected; all sources are checked into TFS.

I'm struggling to understand why the ThmViewer.exe file can't be found on the build server despite the logs indicating its successful copy. I'd be very grateful for any insights that may help to resolve the issue.

Thanks.

Answer 1

Just as Daniel said, we don't recommend to get the nuget packages in source control, you should use NugGet package restore.

Whatever just try below things to narrow down the issue:

• Check if you can find the file D:\\[build_folder]\\[build_subfolder]\\Source\\packages\\WiX.Toolset.2015.3.10.0.1503\\tools\\wix\\ThmViewer.exe under the work folder on build server. If it's not there, then it will not work.
• Shrink the path length.
• Cloak the packages folder, add a Nuget Restore task to restore the packages