[BUG]: Access to the path '*.csproj.nuget.g.props' is denied

[LoriBru]

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Task name

DotNetCoreCLI

Task version

2

Issue Description

Hello, I am currently running an Agent on my local VM, the version is 4.268.0.
I am struggling to get the unit test pipeline working for my .NET solution.
The pipeline currenly looks like this (but I tried already many attempts):

trigger: none

pool:
  name: Vs2026

variables:
  solution: '**/*.slnx'
  buildPlatform: 'x64'
  buildConfiguration: 'Release'

steps:
- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: Build solution
  inputs:
    command: 'build'
    projects: '$(solution)'
    arguments: '--configuration $(BuildConfiguration) /p:Platform=$(BuildPlatform)'
- task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
  displayName: 'Run unit tests'
  inputs:
    command: 'test'
    projects: '**/tests/*/*.csproj'

I get the following error when I try to run it:

##[debug]8822 results
##[debug]found 8822 paths
##[debug]applying include pattern
##[debug]adjustedPattern: 'C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\**/tests/*/*.csproj'
##[debug]19 matches
##[debug]19 final results
##[debug]which 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe'
##[debug]found: 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe'
##[debug]C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe arg: test
##[debug]C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe arg: C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\tests\Testing.Core.Authentication\Testing.Core.Authentication.csproj
##[debug]C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe arg:  --logger trx --results-directory "C:\agents\VS2026\_work\_temp" 
##[debug]exec tool: C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe
##[debug]arguments:
##[debug]   test
##[debug]   C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\tests\Testing.Core.Authentication\Testing.Core.Authentication.csproj
##[debug]   --logger
##[debug]   trx
##[debug]   --results-directory
##[debug]   C:\agents\VS2026\_work\_temp
"C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe" test C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\tests\Testing.Core.Authentication\Testing.Core.Authentication.csproj --logger trx --results-directory C:\agents\VS2026\_work\_temp
Specifying a project for 'dotnet test' should be via '--project'.
##[debug]Exit code 1 received from tool 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe'
##[debug]STDIO streams have closed for tool 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe'
##[error]Error: The process 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe' failed with exit code 1
##[debug]Processed: ##vso[task.issue type=error;]Error: The process 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe' failed with exit code 1

...

And so on for all my unit tests projects.

If I remote login into my VM, I execute dotnet test and I get the following error:

PS C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\tests\Testing.Core.Authentication> dotnet run --project=Testing.Core.Authentication.csproj
C:\Program Files\dotnet\sdk\10.0.103\NuGet.targets(196,5): error Access to the path 'C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\src\Core.Contracts\obj\Core.Contracts.csproj.nuget.g.props' is denied.
The build failed. Fix the build errors and run again.

But then if I run my cmd as Administrator it works just fine.
Can you help me with this issue? Thanks.

Environment type (Please select at least one enviroment where you face this issue)

• Self-Hosted
• Microsoft Hosted
• VMSS Pool
• Container

Azure DevOps Server type

Azure DevOps Server (Please specify exact version in the textbox below)

Azure DevOps Server Version (if applicable)

Azure DevOps Server 2022.2

Operation system

Windows Server 2025

Relevant log output

##[debug]8822 results
##[debug]found 8822 paths
##[debug]applying include pattern
##[debug]adjustedPattern: 'C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\**/tests/*/*.csproj'
##[debug]19 matches
##[debug]19 final results
##[debug]which 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe'
##[debug]found: 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe'
##[debug]C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe arg: test
##[debug]C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe arg: C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\tests\Testing.Core.Authentication\Testing.Core.Authentication.csproj
##[debug]C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe arg:  --logger trx --results-directory "C:\agents\VS2026\_work\_temp" 
##[debug]exec tool: C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe
##[debug]arguments:
##[debug]   test
##[debug]   C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\tests\Testing.Core.Authentication\Testing.Core.Authentication.csproj
##[debug]   --logger
##[debug]   trx
##[debug]   --results-directory
##[debug]   C:\agents\VS2026\_work\_temp
"C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe" test C:\agents\VS2026\_work\3\s\tests\Testing.Core.Authentication\Testing.Core.Authentication.csproj --logger trx --results-directory C:\agents\VS2026\_work\_temp
Specifying a project for 'dotnet test' should be via '--project'.
##[debug]Exit code 1 received from tool 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe'
##[debug]STDIO streams have closed for tool 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe'
##[error]Error: The process 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe' failed with exit code 1
##[debug]Processed: ##vso[task.issue type=error;]Error: The process 'C:\Program Files\dotnet\dotnet.exe' failed with exit code 1

Full task logs with system.debug enabled

Details

 [REPLACE THIS WITH YOUR INFORMATION] 

Repro steps

[Deekshitha2812]

@LoriBru, which dotnet version are you using in the project? Are you trying to execute unit tests with Microsoft.Testing.Platform?

Please include the minor version, not just the major. You can find it as follows:

==============================================================================
Task         : .NET Core
Description  : Build, test, package, or publish a dotnet application, or run a custom dotnet command
Version      : 2.269.0
Author       : Microsoft Corporation
Help         : https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/tasks/build/dotnet-core-cli

[LoriBru]

@Deekshitha2812 My projects are targetting .net10.
The version on the VM running the agent is 10.0.103.
No I am not using MTP.
The task version is the following:

Task         : .NET Core
Description  : Build, test, package, or publish a dotnet application, or run a custom dotnet command
Version      : 2.235.0
Author       : Microsoft Corporation
Help         : https://docs.microsoft.com/azure/devops/pipelines/tasks/build/dotnet-core-cli

This is an example of the .csproj of my testing project files:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetFramework>net10.0</TargetFramework>
    <LangVersion>latest</LangVersion>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
    <EnableMSTestRunner>true</EnableMSTestRunner>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <Platforms>x64</Platforms>
	<AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath>false</AppendTargetFrameworkToOutputPath>
	<Version>0.1.0.0</Version>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Moq" Version="4.20.72" />
    <PackageReference Include="MSTest" Version="4.1.0" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <ProjectReference Include="..\..\src\Core.Authentication\Core.Authentication.csproj" />
    <ProjectReference Include="..\..\src\Core.Contracts\Core.Contracts.csproj" />
  </ItemGroup>

  <ItemGroup>
    <Using Include="Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting" />
  </ItemGroup>

</Project>

[Deekshitha2812]

@LoriBru, can you update the task to latest version and try running it.
And you are using MTP - Doc.

[Deekshitha2812]

@LoriBru, you are currently using an On-prem Azure DevOps server, and the task hasn't been updated to the latest version that supports .NET 10 projects in the server. As a result, you are not able to run the .NET project with the current setup.

[LoriBru]

Thank you @Deekshitha2812 for pointing me to this documentation, I was sure that the project type had to be MSTest.Sdk to use MTP, I was unaware.
Could you please point me to the documentation explaining how to perform the update of the task? I am struggling to find any. I thought that a new version of the task would come with the agent version update, is it not the case?

[LoriBru]

I tried to remove the folder VS2026_work_tasks and force the redownload of the tasks, but the agent would still download the version 2.235.0 or the DotNetCoreCLI task.

[LoriBru]

@Deekshitha2812 I updated my agent to version v5.270.0 (which is a pre-release version) and that did not update my task that is still version 2.235.0.
This did not change anything and I am still facing the exact same issue.
How can I perform an update of the task version? Why isn't this coming with the agent version?