After upgrading to .NET Standard 2.1 and Blazor v3.1.0-preview4.19579.2, Blazor WebAssembly projects no longer work.

To rule out any project-specific issues, I followed the instructions at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/blazor/get-started?view=aspnetcore-3.1&tabs=visual-studio to create a new clean Blazor WebAssembly project.

I can confirm the new project is created targeting .NET Standard 2.1, with Nuget Blazor package versions v3.1.0-preview4.19579.2.

After the project is created, without modifying any of the project files, I simply hit ‘Start Debugging’ in Visual Studio (2019 v16.4).

In the first build attempt I get the following single error:

Code: <blank>
Description: ILLink failed with exited code 1
Project: BlazorApp1
File: Blazor.MonoRuntime.targets
Line: 201

If I then immediately immediately try ‘Start Debugging’ again, it builds without this error, but in the launched browser window the following error appears instead:

An error occurred while starting the application.
System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException: C:\Users\<My Name>\source\repos\BlazorApp1\BlazorApp1\bin\Debug\netstandard2.1\dist\
   at Microsoft.Extensions.FileProviders.PhysicalFileProvider..ctor(String root, ExclusionFilters filters)
   at Microsoft.Extensions.FileProviders.PhysicalFileProvider..ctor(String root)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Builder.BlazorHostingApplicationBuilderExtensions.UseClientSideBlazorFiles(IApplicationBuilder app, String clientAssemblyFilePath)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Blazor.DevServer.Server.Startup.Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IWebHostEnvironment environment, IConfiguration configuration)
   at System.RuntimeMethodHandle.InvokeMethod(Object target, Object[] arguments, Signature sig, Boolean constructor, Boolean wrapExceptions)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeMethodInfo.Invoke(Object obj, BindingFlags invokeAttr, Binder binder, Object[] parameters, CultureInfo culture)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.ConfigureBuilder.Invoke(Object instance, IApplicationBuilder builder)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.ConfigureBuilder.<>c__DisplayClass4_0.<Build>b__0(IApplicationBuilder builder)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.GenericWebHostBuilder.<>c__DisplayClass13_0.<UseStartup>b__2(IApplicationBuilder app)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.IISIntegration.IISSetupFilter.<>c__DisplayClass4_0.<Configure>b__0(IApplicationBuilder app)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.HostFilteringStartupFilter.<>c__DisplayClass0_0.<Configure>b__0(IApplicationBuilder app)
   at Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.GenericWebHostService.StartAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)

If I revert this project back to .NET Standard 2.0 and Blazor v3.1.0-preview3.19555.2, it builds and runs without any issues.

Here’s the output of dotnet --info

.NET Core SDK (reflecting any global.json):
 Version:   3.1.100
 Commit:    cd82f021f4

Runtime Environment:
 OS Name:     Windows
 OS Version:  10.0.17763
 OS Platform: Windows
 RID:         win10-x64
 Base Path:   C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\3.1.100\

Host (useful for support):
  Version: 3.1.0
  Commit:  65f04fb6db

.NET Core SDKs installed:
  2.1.602 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  2.1.801 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  2.1.802 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  2.2.202 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  2.2.401 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  2.2.402 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  3.0.100-preview8-013656 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  3.0.100-rc1-014190 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  3.0.100 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]
  3.1.100 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk]

.NET Core runtimes installed:
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.9 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.12 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.1.14 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.2.3 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.2.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.All 2.2.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.All]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.9 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.12 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.1.14 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.2.3 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.2.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 2.2.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.0.0-preview8.19405.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.0.0-rc1.19457.4 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.0.0 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.AspNetCore.App 3.1.0 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.AspNetCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.9 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.12 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.13 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.1.14 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.2.3 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.2.6 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 2.2.7 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.0.0-preview8-28405-07 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.0.0-rc1-19456-20 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.0.0 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.NETCore.App 3.1.0 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.0.0-preview8-28405-07 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.0.0-rc1-19456-20 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.0.0 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]
  Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App 3.1.0 [C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.App]

Any ideas?

[jspuij]

Possibly the same one as this one: https://github.com/aspnet/AspNetCore/issues/17754

[pranavkm]

Thanks!