New build server “Microsoft.WebApplication.targets” was not found

Just setup a brand new build server with Windows 2008 R2 with TFS 2010 and SQL 2008 R2.

All good except it keep complaint about “Microsoft.WebApplication.targets” was not found When trying to build a web project.

“C:\Builds\1\GrouponSharp\CI\Sources\trunk\GrouponSharp.Web\GrouponSharp.Web.csproj (377): The imported project "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v10.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" was not found. Confirm that the path in the <Import> declaration is correct, and that the file exists on disk.”

Answer was obvious the error says it all. but what do I need to install to get this build target?

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Shell (Integrated) Redistributable Package

After installed, the webapplication build target will be appeared in the right directory.

Or even better, you can just install the TFS2010 team explorer on the build server which will install VS 2010 shell redistributable package for you along with other goodies like VS prerequisites.

You don’t need to install the actually visual studio 2010 on your build server like just in order to get this assembly, like some answer you might find on internet.