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Troubleshoot .NET tool usage issues

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You might come across issues when trying to install or run a .NET tool, which can be a global tool or a local tool. This article describes the common root causes and some possible solutions.

Installed .NET tool fails to run

When a .NET tool fails to run, most likely you ran into one of the following issues:

Executable file not found

If the executable file isn't found, you'll see a message similar to the following:

Could not execute because the specified command or file was not found.
Possible reasons for this include:
  * You misspelled a built-in dotnet command.
  * You intended to execute a .NET program, but dotnet-xyz does not exist.
  * You intended to run a global tool, but a dotnet-prefixed executable with this name could not be found on the PATH.

The name of the executable determines how you invoke the tool. The following table describes the format:

Executable name format Invocation format
dotnet-<toolName>.exe dotnet <toolName>
<toolName>.exe <toolName>

Global tools

Global tools can be installed in the default directory or in a specific location. The default directories are:

OS Path
Linux/macOS $HOME/.dotnet/tools
Windows %USERPROFILE%\.dotnet\tools

If you're trying to run a global tool, check that the PATH environment variable on your machine contains the path where you installed the global tool and that the executable is in that path.

The .NET CLI tries to add the default location to the PATH environment variable on its first usage. However, there are some scenarios where the location might not be added to PATH automatically:

  • If you're using Linux and you've installed the .NET SDK using .tar.gz files and not apt-get or rpm.
  • If you're using macOS 10.15 "Catalina" or later versions.
  • If you're using macOS 10.14 "Mojave" or earlier versions, and you've installed the .NET SDK using .tar.gz files and not .pkg.
  • If you've installed the .NET Core 3.0 SDK and you've set the DOTNET_ADD_GLOBAL_TOOLS_TO_PATH environment variable to false.
  • If you've installed .NET Core 2.2 SDK or earlier versions, and you've set the DOTNET_SKIP_FIRST_TIME_EXPERIENCE environment variable to true.

In these scenarios or if you specified the --tool-path option while installing a dotnet tool, the PATH environment variable on your machine doesn't automatically contain the path where you installed the global tool. In that case, append the tool location (for example, $HOME/.dotnet/tools) to the PATH environment variable by using whatever method your shell provides for updating environment variables. For more information, see .NET tools.

Local tools

If you're trying to run a local tool, verify that there's a manifest file called dotnet-tools.json in the current directory or any of its parent directories. This file can also live under a folder named .config anywhere in the project folder hierarchy, instead of the root folder. If dotnet-tools.json exists, open it and check for the tool you're trying to run. If the file doesn't contain an entry for "isRoot": true, then also check further up the file hierarchy for additional tool manifest files.

If you're trying to run a .NET tool that was installed with a specified path, you need to include that path when using the tool. An example of using a tool-path installed tool is:

..\<toolDirectory>\dotnet-<toolName>

Runtime not found

.NET tools are framework-dependent applications, which means they rely on a .NET runtime installed on your machine. If the expected runtime isn't found, they follow normal .NET runtime roll-forward rules such as:

  • An application rolls forward to the highest patch release of the specified major and minor version.
  • If there's no matching runtime with a matching major and minor version number, the next higher minor version is used.
  • Roll forward doesn't occur between preview versions of the runtime or between preview versions and release versions. So, .NET tools created using preview versions must be rebuilt and republished by the author and reinstalled.

Roll-forward won't occur by default in two common scenarios:

  • Only lower versions of the runtime are available. Roll-forward only selects later versions of the runtime.
  • Only higher major versions of the runtime are available. Roll-forward doesn't cross major version boundaries.

If an application can't find an appropriate runtime, it fails to run and reports an error.

You can find out which .NET runtimes are installed on your machine using one of the following commands:

dotnet --list-runtimes
dotnet --info

If you think the tool should support the runtime version you currently have installed, you can contact the tool author and see if they can update the version number or multi-target. Once they've recompiled and republished their tool package to NuGet with an updated version number, you can update your copy. While that doesn't happen, the quickest solution for you is to install a version of the runtime that would work with the tool you're trying to run. To download a specific .NET runtime version, visit the .NET download page.

If you install the .NET SDK to a non-default location, you need to set the environment variable DOTNET_ROOT to the directory that contains the dotnet executable.

.NET tool installation fails

There are a number of reasons the installation of a .NET global or local tool may fail. When the tool installation fails, you'll see a message similar to the following one:

Tool '{0}' failed to install. This failure may have been caused by:

* You are attempting to install a preview release and did not use the --version option to specify the version.
* A package by this name was found, but it was not a .NET tool.
* The required NuGet feed cannot be accessed, perhaps because of an Internet connection problem.
* You mistyped the name of the tool.

For more reasons, including package naming enforcement, visit https://aka.ms/failure-installing-tool

To help diagnose these failures, NuGet messages are shown directly to the user, along with the previous message. The NuGet message may help you identify the problem.

Package naming enforcement

Microsoft has changed its guidance on the Package ID for tools, resulting in a number of tools not being found with the predicted name. The new guidance is that all Microsoft tools be prefixed with "Microsoft." This prefix is reserved and can only be used for packages signed with a Microsoft authorized certificate.

During the transition, some Microsoft tools will have the old form of the package ID, while others will have the new form:

dotnet tool install -g Microsoft.<toolName>
dotnet tool install -g <toolName>

As package IDs are updated, you'll need to change to the new package ID to get the latest updates. Packages with the simplified tool name will be deprecated.

Preview releases

  • You're attempting to install a preview release and didn't use the --version option to specify the version.

.NET tools that are in preview must be specified with a portion of the name to indicate that they are in preview. You don't need to include the entire preview. Assuming the version numbers are in the expected format, you can use something like the following example:

dotnet tool install -g --version 1.1.0-pre <toolName>

Package isn't a .NET tool

  • A NuGet package by this name was found, but it wasn't a .NET tool.

If you try to install a NuGet package that is a regular NuGet package and not a .NET tool, you'll see an error similar to the following:

NU1212: Invalid project-package combination for <toolName>. DotnetToolReference project style can only contain references of the DotnetTool type.

NuGet feed can't be accessed

  • The required NuGet feed can't be accessed, perhaps because of an Internet connection problem.

Tool installation requires access to the NuGet feed that contains the tool package. It fails if the feed isn't available. You can alter feeds with nuget.config, request a specific nuget.config file, or specify additional feeds with the --add-source switch. By default, NuGet throws an error for any feed that can't connect. The flag --ignore-failed-sources can skip these non-reachable sources.

Package ID incorrect

  • You mistyped the name of the tool.

A common reason for failure is that the tool name isn't correct. This can happen because of mistyping, or because the tool has moved or been deprecated. For tools on NuGet.org, one way to ensure you have the name correct is to search for the tool at NuGet.org and copy the installation command.

401 (Unauthorized)

Most likely you've specified an alternative NuGet feed, and that feed requires authentication. There are a few different ways to solve this:

  • Add the --ignore-failed-sources parameter to bypass the error from the private feed and use the public Microsoft feed.

    If you're installing a tool from the Microsoft NuGet feed, your custom feed is returning this error before Microsoft's NuGet feed returns a result. The error terminates the request, canceling any other pending feed requests, which could be Microsoft's NuGet feed. Adding the --ignore-failed-sources option causes the command to treat this error as a warning and allows other feeds to process the request.

    dotnet tool install -g --ignore-failed-sources <toolName>

  • Force the Microsoft NuGet feed with the --add-source parameter.

    It's possible that the global or local NuGet config file is missing the public Microsoft NuGet feed. Use a combination of the --add-source and --ignore-failed-sources parameters to avoid the erroneous feed and rely on the public Microsoft feed.

    dotnet tool install -g --add-source 'https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json' --ignore-failed-sources <toolName>

  • Use a custom NuGet config, --configfile <FILE> parameter.

    Create a local nuget.config file with just the public Microsoft NuGet feed, and reference it with the --configfile parameter:

    dotnet tool install -g --configfile "./nuget.config" <toolName>

    Here's an example config file:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <packageSources>
    <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" protocolVersion="3" />
  </packageSources>
</configuration>

    For more information, see nuget.config reference

  • Add the required credentials to the config file.

    If you know the package exists in the configured feed, provide the login credentials in the NuGet config file. For more information about credentials in a nuget config file, see the nuget.config reference's packageSourceCredentials section.

See also