How to fix '“CheckAttributes” task could not be loaded'-error after installing Visual Studio 2013 Update 4

Question

After installing Update 4, I now find myself unable to build (or even clean) any solution. I keep getting:

Error 1 The \"CheckPathAttributes\" task coul

Answer 1

Well, here's "my solution".

First the horrific "prompt of death" (plus the same "licensing issue" annoyance) in this post:

What I've attempted (and result) based on info from the interwebs:

1. Close VS 2013 and rename the folder:
   C:\Users\[your user name]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\ComponentModelCache
   
   Result: No effect/errors persist (VS will re-create that folder on startup)

2. Rerun the Visual Studio Update 4 installer and Repair
   
   Result: Successfully "fixed" whatever it was.
   This will take about an hour which is slower than when I originally installed the update so that was a clue, or rather, more like "well, I hope that means it found what it did wrong or forgot/missed out on" (and not, "oh crap, now I'm really screwing things up even more")

A quick summary of my environment so that hopefully will guide you to your solution:

• I did install Office Developer Tools Nov 2014 prior to the Update so in my case, that wasn't the issue (I did not remove/uninstall)

• I have Resharper, and I did not disable it, so this too doesn't seem related (some have pointed this out)

• I did update to Web Essentials 2013 for Update 4 after the initial Update (it will prompt you to after installing VS Update 4). I didn't do anything after the Repair (didn't remove/re-install/etc Web Essentials after the Repair).

• I have VS 2012 as well, just mentioning this though that was never affected in any way (and was my fallback while this issue was stopping me from using VS2013)

Hth...