efcore: The specified deps.json [..] does not exist after VS 2019 update

Finally figured-out issue and fixed it.

It’s ‘Azure development’ component which is causing this error (desp.json) , Un-installing that component is fixed this issue. Now, I can execute every EF core command successfully from package manager console. Hope! it will be fixed in future update.

I am using Visual studio 2019 community edition - 16.1.5

1. dotnet tool uninstall --global dotnet-ef
2. dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef
3. dotnet ef (This is only to check that “DOTNET EF” is installed correctly.)
4. dotnet ef migrations --project YourProject.Data --startup-project YourProject.UI add InitialCreate
5. dotnet ef database --project YourProject.Data --startup-project YourProject.UI update

For everyone with the problem posted here I would encourage you to see my link here and try the test presented. https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/1061310/project-configuration-manager-properties-is-blank-1.html. Even though this heavily effects some of us with EF there is more to it. I would like to confirm my strong belief that the problem presented here is caused by VS itself and the EF issue is just one of many results of the underlying VS problem. Please try the test and if you are affected please upvote the issue presented. BTW if you have this issue the only work around is to use the EF Command Line Interface (CLI).

As of today, you can use dotnet CLI to create migration… It is working as I checked it just today with VS2019.

dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate

### Error solution The error appears when programming in Microsoft.AspNetCore.MVC with NET 5.0, when trying to create a Migration and a DataBase. By typing in the package manager console:

PM> Add-Migration InitialCreate (or Update-Database) Build started. Build succeeded. **The specified deps.json [C: \ VSProjects \ RazorPagesMovie \ RazorPagesMovie.deps.json] does not exis**t, and the migration is not created and then not all the tables in the DataBase are created.

Solution:

1. In appsettings.json, in “DefaultConnection” remove the final part “MultipleActiveResultSets = true”
2. In the package manager console (PowerShell), and having installed “Dotnet”: a) dotnet tool uninstall --global dotnet-ef (To Remove it only if it exists) b) dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef (To Install it if it does not exist) c) dotnet ef (To see that it is installed correctly) d) dotnet ef migrations add InitialCreate e) dotnet ef database update

In View -> SQL Object Explorer, you will find the DataBase with its tables.

Install-Package Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Tools

I had this issue today, could not run my db tests.

the issue/fix for me was: the sln configuration was in Release mode which this project is NOT not built under. Switched back to Debug, clean, rebuild

resharper test session is now running fine!

The deps.json does not exit error really threw me. turns out the issue was very simple abit not clear.

To repro,:

• install visual Studio 2019 community edition 16.1.5 , include azure development during installation.
• create a new aspnetcore application.
• include all required packages for efcore
• run command add-migration from package manager console. You will get above error. And initial migration not added.

For any existing aspnetcore project, run command update-database and you will get same error.

Environment details: Aspnetcore 2.2 Visual studio 2019 community edition 16.1.5 Efcore Windows 10 64 bit machine

Encountered this issue in VS 2019 community edition running dotnet ef dbcontext scaffold.

Tried most of the suggestions here without success.

Despite building successfully before running it, what ended up working was to remove the --no-build option from the command. After removing that it started working.

I hope I have done what you have asked for - the report is at https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/804599/the-specified-depsjson-does-not-exist-after-vs-201-1.html

If needed I can send a report from my VM where the commend succeeds. HTH

This error is definitely environment related. I use a Mac book pro so I have VS 2019 Professional installed in a Parallels Desktop env on the Mac. The error occurs when I have a directory name which includes a space in the file path.

Error message:

I head over to powershell and tried to navigate to that directory. This showed me that the path was not accessible

The error disappeared when I removed the space in the name of the directory (Stores Setup) in the folder path Success:

I’m very sure this is just one of the few causes of this issue. But it sure seems to be related to locating files

FWIW I got this working by using Add… New Scaffolded Item … Controller (rather than Add Controller) … and that succeeded in producing an API controller (.net core 3) with access methods and EF. The Add Controller direct just screamed there were was a missing deps.json file, whatever that is, from the bin subfolder.

Thank you for the in depth information on installed components @alwilton. Unfortunately after installing additional workloads on my machine I still can’t reproduce this issue. Looking in Help -> About for me, I see no components that you have that I don’t have. Sadly its possible for other components to be installed that don’t show in Help -> About so its not an exhaustive list.

If you can, it would be great if you can reproduce the problem (run (Get-Project ApiAuthSample).ConfigurationManager.ActiveConfiguration.Properties.Item('OutputPath').Value to see it error) and then use the Report a Problem system in Visual Studio as that will capture a memory dump that will hopefully allow me to see more of what is going on. If you can link to the report that is created here, I will be able to find it more easily.

I had same issues. The location of deps.json was pointing to different folder than the project folder. So I inspected my environment variables, and found that I had variable ProjectDir pointing to specific folder. The problem went away after I deleted the ProjectDir enviroment variable.