Task Runner Configuration Missing in Visual Studio 2017

Question

I just installed Visual Studio 2017 and opened a solution I had been working in with Visual Studio 2015. It seems like everything works great except that the task runner explore

Answer 1

Task Runner Explorer is not shown in "View/Other Windows/Task Runner Explorer" menu if "Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools" extension is disabled. However if to enable it and to disable the "Microsoft Azure App Service Tools" extension then Task Runner Explorer will appear in the "View/Other Windows" menu but will not work.

So answer is following: both "Microsoft ASP.NET and Web Tools" and "Microsoft Azure App Service Tools" extensions should be enabled for Task Runner Explorer to work. Tested on Visual Studio Community 2017 Version 15.2 (26430.16)

Answer 2

Although I have successfully been using Task Runner Explorer for other projects, even last night for example, all of a sudden today (11/17/2018) it stopped working. The solution was to go to Tools->Extensions And Updates and search (upper right corner) for NPM Task Runner and when it found that extension, I clicked the Enable button next to it. It gave me a warning that I needed to close and reopen Visual Studio 2017, and when I did, the -vs-binding for BeforeBuild in my package.json started working, and the items in Task Runner Explorer looked correct and started working again.

Answer 3

If you got here because your webpack.config.js is not showing up in the Task Runner Explorer, it's because webpack is not supported by default.

You must install Mads Kristensen's WebPack Task Runner from the Extensions and Updates window in Visual Studio.

Or install Web Essentials 2017 which includes the WebPack Task Runner, and a number of other awesome tools from Mads.

Answer 4

I encountered a similar problem when attempting this introductory Typescript tutorial. The option to run task runner explorer was not there, when I expect it should have been.

The solution was odd, but it worked. The file I wanted to deal with was in a subfolder, like this:

Note the lack of 'Task Runner Explorer' in the rightclick menu.

I then moved the file into the main folder for the project:

and now it works as expected.

Quick update:

In case the images stop showing (which seems to be an issue on some answers):

The solution is to place the file in the root folder of the project.

Answer 5

The Task Runner Explorer can be found via the menu View > Other Windows > Task Runner Explorer.

This is how you find it or you can use the search window in the top right and search for Task Runner and it will show up.

Answer 6

You can just install Bundler & Minifier extension for VS. You can install it from VS Tools > Extensions and Updates.