Your project does not reference error!


The error "Your project does not reference ".NETFramework,Version=v4.6.1" framework. Add a reference to ".NETFramework,Version=v4.6.1" in the "TargetFrameworks" property of your project file and then re-run NuGet restore" troubled me a bit at work today.

The target framework was set correctly and I had 4.6.1 on my dev machine. IDE was VS 2019. So what was the problem? 

Good old fashioned googling helped me to resolve the issue and so adding this note here as a reference for myself. It turns out the solution was to delete the obj folders and just recompile.

Just doing a clean and rebuild did not help. I had to delete the obj folder manually and then recompile worked.

The link that helped me with this is in the reference below.  It seems like lot of people have come across this same problem. Latest comment on that thread is from Jan 2020 and looks like the issue is still unresolved from VS team. This is at least one of the workarounds that solves this issue.

Reference:
https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/312180/projects-fail-to-build-in-1580-due-to-errors-from.html

Comments

  1. Kale Co Jakim16 October 2026 at 09:53

    This is a useful troubleshooting note for developers working with Visual Studio and .NET Framework projects. When the target framework is configured correctly but NuGet still reports a missing framework reference, stale intermediate build files can be the cause. Manually deleting the obj folders and recompiling is a practical workaround when a standard Clean and Rebuild does not resolve the issue.

    For developers building application-based solutions, understanding these environment-specific issues is just as important as writing code. Exploring Web Development Projects can provide opportunities to apply development concepts while learning to troubleshoot real-world build and configuration problems.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kale Co Jakim16 October 2026 at 09:53

    This is also relevant to anyone learning the Microsoft development ecosystem. A Dot Net Full Stack Developer Course can help developers build a stronger foundation in application development, project configuration, and debugging techniques that are valuable when resolving issues like this.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Add co-administrators for your azure subscription

Image
I use my Visual Studio Enterprise subscription at work which gives me a free monthly credit of close to 10,00 INR (around 150 USD). I use it quite extensively to learn about azure services, create proof of concepts and generally play around with azure services. There was a situation recently where I had to let another user manage azure services which I had created and also allow him to use more of azure services, all using my subscription. I was wondering if there was a way to do this and if this would even be allowed, considering that I was only using the free credit obtained from VS enterprise and not really paying anything extra to use Azure. The good news is that there is! Good folks at Microsoft have provided a way to add on additional administrative users for a single subscription. Now that I think about it, for large enterprises, this would be a major requirement. No way that everything that a decent sized company has on azure would be managed by just one admin account. B...
Read more

How to enable elasticsearch access from remote machines

Image
Elasticsearch is one of the most popular open source search platforms available today. In this post, we will look at how to enable remote access to elastic. Now, what do I mean by remote access? By remote access, I mean ability to access the elastic api endpoints from machines other than where it is setup. The default elasticsearch installation is localhost only, you can access it only from the machine where it is setup. While this is okay for POC type development work, for most other use cases we need elasticsearch to be installed on a server somewhere and be able to access it from other machines. Before we get started with the steps needed to configure elasticsearch installation for remote access, do note that these are applicable only for elastic 7.1.x (maybe even 7.x). Steps: Navigate to the folder where elasticsearch is installed. It should look something like this screenshot Open up the config folder. There should be a elasticsearch.yml file. Open it. In the Netwo...
Read more