AZ-400 Practice Question: Design and implement build and release pipelines
Exhibit
##[section]Starting: Build Solution ============================================================================== Task : VSBuild Description : Build with MSBuild Version : 1.0.0 Author : Microsoft Help : [More Information](https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=123456) ============================================================================== ##[error]Build FAILED. ##[error]C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Enterprise\MSBuild\Current\Bin\msbuild.exe "C:\agent\_work\1\s\MySolution.sln" /nologo /nr:false /dl:CentralLogger,"C:\agent\_work\1\s\packages\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build2\1.0.0\build\net472\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build2.dll";"RootDetailId=...|SolutionDir=C:\agent\_work\1\s"*ForwardingLogger,"C:\agent\_work\1\s\packages\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build2\1.0.0\build\net472\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build2.dll" ##[error]The imported project "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Enterprise\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v16.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" was not found. Confirm that the expression in the Import declaration "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Enterprise\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v16.0\WebApplications\Microsoft.WebApplication.targets" is correct, and that the file exists on disk.
Refer to the exhibit. A build pipeline fails with this error. What is the most likely cause?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The build agent does not have the 'ASP.NET and web development' workload installed.
The error indicates that the MSBuild targets file for Web Applications is missing. This typically occurs when the build agent does not have the required Visual Studio workload installed, specifically the Web development build tools.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The build agent does not have the 'ASP.NET and web development' workload installed.
Why this is correct
The error indicates that the imported Microsoft.WebApplication.targets file cannot be found, which is installed with the 'ASP.NET and web development' workload in Visual Studio Build Tools. Without that workload, Web Application projects fail during MSBuild evaluation regardless of agent disk space or MSBuild version.
- ✗
The build agent is out of disk space.
Why it's wrong here
This failure is not a disk space issue; the error occurs during MSBuild's project evaluation and explicitly reports a missing imported targets file. Disk space exhaustion would surface as an MSB3021 file-copy error or a disk-full resource message, not a missing .targets import.
- ✗
The pipeline is using the wrong version of MSBuild.
Why it's wrong here
Although an incorrect MSBuild version can cause compatibility failures, the exhibit shows the expected MSBuild path being used. The failing import is Microsoft.WebApplication.targets, which is installed as part of the web workload, not bundled with MSBuild itself, so switching versions would not resolve the missing workload.
- ✗
The solution file is corrupted.
Why it's wrong here
A corrupted solution file would typically produce parsing errors, missing project GUID errors, or an inability to load the solution at all. Here, MSBuild successfully evaluates the project but fails to locate a specific imported targets file, which points to an installation gap rather than a corrupt .sln file.
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Designing a Build Pipeline
Key term
Pipeline
A pipeline is an automated series of steps that takes code from development to production, ensuring quality and speed.
Key term
Build pipeline
A build pipeline is an automated sequence of steps that compiles source code into a deployable artifact, running tests and checks along the way.
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