title: Can I build .NET Core applications on a Windows server without Visual Studio installed?
body: <p>I am trying to set up a continuous integration server that is on Windows, that builds .net core applications, after installing only the .net core SDK from the .net core download site, without installing Visual Studio.</p>
  
  <p>The error I get when I try to build is:</p>
  
  <pre><code>C:\dev\aaa.xproj(7,3): error MSB4019: The imported project 
   "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v14.0
   \DNX\Microsoft.DNX.Props" was not found
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have googled and found complaints about this kind of error in earlier betas but I thought that the standalone .net core tools were supposed to work with just visual studio code (or indeed any editor) and with visual studio not installed, just the <a href="https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=809122" rel="nofollow">.net core standalone sdk</a>.</p>
  
  <p>Is there any technique to get this to work?  Interestingly the error above occurred when I ran dotnet build from the solution root directory, like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>msbuild /v:q  /t:Build /nologo /P:Configuration=Release MySolutionWithSevenProjectsInIt.sln
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>The above appears to require Visual Studio to be installed to build the whole solution, so I am guessing if I need a "solution build" step instead of an individual project build step, I need visual studio?</p>
  
  <p>It's odd to me that this system has msbuild installed at all, all this computer has is the .net core sdk, and a "non working" (as above) msbuild.</p>