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I'm trying to build a solution using msbuild command line and I keep getting this error:

error MSB4236: The SDK 'Microsoft.NET.Sdk' specified could not be found.

The version of msbuild is the latest from microsoft visual studio 2017 tools. I'm using Windows Server 2012 R2 and the project uses .NET Core 2.0.

This is the command that I'm using:

msbuild.exe /p:Configuration=Release /t:restore C:\Projects\MyProject.sln

Complete log:

    Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 15.3.409.57025 for .NET Framework
    Building the projects in this solution one at a time. To enable parallel build, please add the "/m" switch.
    Build started 9/16/2017 3:09:03 PM.
    Project "C:\Projects\MyProject.sln" on node 1 (restore target(s)).
    ValidateSolutionConfiguration:
      Building solution configuration "Release|Any CPU".
    Project "C:\Projects\MyProject.sln" (1) is building "C:\Projects\Kernel\Kernel.csproj" (2) on node 1 (restore target(s)).
    C:\Projects\MyProject.sln" (1) is building "C:\Projects\Kernel\Kernel.csproj : error MSB4236: The SDK 'Microsoft.NET.Sdk' specified could not be found.
    Done Building Project "C:\Projects\MyProject.sln" (1) is building "C:\Projects\Kernel\Kernel.csproj" (restore target(s)) -- FAILED.
    Build FAILED.
    "C:\Projects\MyProject.sln" (restore target) (1) ->
"C:\Projects\Kernel\Kernel.csproj" (restore target) (2) ->
  C:\Projects\Kernel\Kernel.csproj : error MSB4236: The SDK 'Microsoft.NET.Sdk' specified could not be found.
0 Warning(s)
    11 Error(s)
                My guess would be that the project references that SDK. And in order to build against it, it must be installed. How else could the compiler do typechkes and all the other stuff?
– Christopher
                Sep 16, 2017 at 18:57
                @Christopher I editted the post with complete log. And yes, my project references that SDK, but I'm trying to restore it.
– Luiz Gustavo Maia
                Sep 16, 2017 at 19:06
                As I thought. The compiler can not find the SDK. You need it installed togeher with the Compiler to make a build. Ideally you picked the default location. If not, you might have to edit the project so it looks for the SDK in the proper location.
– Christopher
                Sep 16, 2017 at 19:11
                But I already installed .NET Core 2.0 SDK. So, do I have to edit the project file or do I need to reinstall .NET Core SDK in the same location that MSBuild is installed?
– Luiz Gustavo Maia
                Sep 16, 2017 at 19:19
I encountered this error after playing around with .Net Core 2.0 installation and seemingly messing it up. I would get this same error for dotnet restore, dotnet build or dotnet msbuild. Essentially, anything involving .Net Core and msbuild.
The error occurred because the MSBuildSDKsPath environment variable was still pointing to the old .Net Core 1.1 SDK.
To fix the problem, I manually set the MSBuildSDKsPath environment variable to point to 2.0.0's SDK path, which, for me with x64, this was at: C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.0.0\Sdks.
Basically, if you have Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk" in your .csproj, then a folder with the same name should exist at your MSBuildSDKsPath location.
                Thanks, I had to create a new system environment variable as I had no MSBuildSDKsPath then I threw the latest sdk paths in there C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.1.500\Sdks.
– Razze
                Nov 23, 2018 at 9:48
                The error was on our TeamCity build server only. Installing MS Build Tools with .Net Core SDK was not enough. I also had to create the MSBuildSDKsPath and set the value to C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\3.1.101\Sdks. Thank you @Sebastian
– KevinM
                Mar 5, 2020 at 10:42
                I had TeamCity agent running on Windows Server 2008 R2, this worked for me. I did have to restart the machine to get it to recognise the new environment variable
– soupy1976
                Apr 16, 2020 at 11:35
                In my case I had to install ".net core build tools". Its on the initial setup screen of the build tools - i usually skip straight to the individual components.
– Peter PitLock
                Apr 23, 2020 at 18:23
                Using TeamCity here & forgot to install .NET Core build tools as part of Visual Studio (MS) Build Tools. Didn't require the path MSBuildSDKsPath and thankful because I'm not trying to maintain that on all my build agents.
– Jordan Parker
                Aug 6, 2020 at 7:18
You were probably missing some components when you installed the VS tools
Download and run Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019. (On the VS download page, go to Tools for Visual Studio 2019 and then click download Build Tools for Visual Studio 2019)
Select Modify on Visual Studio Build Tools 2019 or your instance.
Select tab Individual components and check .NET Core SDK component
                VSC 2019 (16.11.4) here, for some reason the .NET Core SDK entry is missing for me. I've been installing .NET SDK instead but the problem still occurs.
– StrikeAgainst
                Nov 18, 2021 at 16:26
                I already figured the problem out, I've missed that .NET Core SDK merely had been renamed to .NET SDK, so I was fine actually. The building issues were resolved after I restarted VSC.
– StrikeAgainst
                Nov 22, 2021 at 11:44
and specify the correct version which exists in the C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk folder. The VS installer uninstalled the previous version of .NET Core 3.0.100 and installed new one 3.1.100 so I had to change it from:
{  "sdk": {    "version": "3.0.100"  }}
{  "sdk": {    "version": "3.1.100"  }}
                Note that the command to create the global.json is dotnet new globaljson --sdk-version 3.1.100. See learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/tools/global-json
– James Skemp
                Aug 26, 2020 at 16:15
                This fixed it for me as I was trying to get a GitHub Runner working on my build server, thanks!
– ElMatador
                Jan 8, 2022 at 21:08
I got this issue in Mac OS and while using docker container and Azure this occurs because docker bash overrides MSBuildSDKsPath so don't
 change any code just quit and restart your IDE (visual studio Mac) and run it again
I started getting this error after installing Visual Studio 2022 in Windows 10, when I opened up my solution. The solution contains a mix of .NET Framework 4.8 and .NET Standard 2.0 projects, and the error was on the .NET Standard 2.0 projects. I had previously Visual Studio 2019 and 2019 Build Tools installed.
The problem was that I had both x86 and x64 of dotnet installed, and both was in my systems PATH environment variable:
C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet
C:\Program Files\dotnet
I did the following steps to fix this error:
Uninstalled VS2019
Uninstalled VS2019 Build Tools
Removed the x86 path from the environment variable
Removed the folder "C:\Program Files (x86)\dotnet" from my computer
Restarted VS2022
I think that the important part was to remove x86 from the environment variable. The other steps was just to "clean up".
I got the same issue when I tried to install x64 .Net Core SDK installer. Even the following dotnet --info command shows me that no SDK is found.
So, try to install x86 .Net Core SDK installer. That can help you.
I had the same problem and found solution here:
https://github.com/aspnet/AspNetCore/issues/3624
Solution is to just have x64 or x86 version of sdk/runtime/hosting.
If you have both and if you use for example x86 version of dotnet.exe it won't see x64 versions of SDK installed.
Problem usually occures when you install hosting bundle because it includes both x86 and x64. Just uninstall one you don't use.
To anyone that, like me, run into this issue on Linux and found this thread:
This problem occurs, because your .bashrc config overrides MSBuildSDKsPath environment variable with outdated value (most likely it's a leftover after dotnet package update). To solve this:
Edit ~/.bashrc
Remove the line with MSBuildSDKsPath variable initialization, e.g. 
  
export MSBuildSDKsPath="/opt/dotnet/sdk/2.2.108/Sdks/"
                A Windows 10 update seemed to have caused the issue for me. Updating Visual Studio 2019 using the Installer fixed it.
– AJ Dhaliwal
                Oct 13, 2022 at 11:19
The issue was occuring for me only when I tried to build the project with
dotnet build using VS2022 .
MsBuild on the same project was working fine.
What I did was:
restore the .net core runtime sdk - I was using 3.1 at the time. 
Add both sdk paths in both Path vars, for the user and system, in that order:
Maybe you encountered the error after installing .NET core SDK 3.0. You have to check  the environment variable MSBuildSDKsPath after every install of a new SDK. It must target the SDK you use to create your project. I use  VS2017 with Windows 10.
For 2.2 SDK:
C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\2.2.104\Sdks
For 3.0 preview :
C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\3.0.100-preview3-010431\Sdks 
                Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
– Community
                Jun 16, 2022 at 19:08
I had this same issue, and it turned out the resolution for me was none of the above for me.
I was running the VS preview version with an older version of VS. I removed the Preview VS and then had to remove each of the environment variables by hand (i.e ANDRIOD_HOME, and .Net Maui vars, etc) and was back in business. Hope this helps someone out there who has installed VS Preview only to break the dev build environment.
Cause I had a lot of diffeculties finding the url for build tools, here it is :
https://aka.ms/vs/16/release/vs_buildtools.exe
Documenantion :
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/install/create-an-offline-installation-of-visual-studio?view=vs-2019
I encountered the same error and to fix it I installed .NET 6.0 SDK.
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/en-us/download/visual-studio-sdks
I only had .NET 7.0 SDK installed, and for whatever reason the project I was trying to use needed .NET 6.0 SDK.
                Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please edit to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.
– Community
                Mar 8 at 15:36
        
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