Best way to add NuGet packages as project references in VS2012?

visual-studio-2012 nuget
Nine Tails picture Nine Tails · Feb 21, 2013 · Viewed 74.4k times · Source

Ok. Really quick question, I'm probably just being thick.

If you right-click on a projects 'references' folder then 'Manage NuGet Packages' you can then install packages and they are automatically referenced by the project you clicked on. But then I want to add the same reference to other projects in the same solution. If you repeat previous but click on another project the only option is to uninstall the package (since it's already installed), what is the proper way to add an existing (already installed) NuGet package as a project reference? Am I to add the reference using the normal dialog and 'browse' to the dll in the packages folder? Use one method to add the first reference then another for subsequent references? That doesn't seem right.

Answer

Pavel Bakshy picture Pavel Bakshy · Feb 21, 2013

You can use Manage NuGet packages for Solution... by:

  • right-clicking on solution
  • Tools > Library Package Manager > Manage NuGet packages for Solution

Then you can choose in which projects install package as on screenshot below: enter image description here Additionally you can add installed package to another projects in solution using the same Manage NuGet packages for Solution.... enter image description here

Related questions

How do I delete NuGet packages that are not referenced by any project in my solution?

Somehow during the upgrade to VS2012 and .NET 4.5, I've managed to get NuGet confused. There are packages that appear in the package manager (and the packages folder) that I cannot delete (I believe they are legacy ASP.NET NuGet packages …

Read More
Restoring Nuget References?

I have solution & project in Visual Studio 2012. The project has a file packages.config in the root of the project. For the purposes of this question, lets assume I accidentally removed these libraries from the References section of my …

Read More
NuGet Package restore failed for project Miscellaneous Files: Value cannot be null or an empty string. Parameter name: root. 0 0

I have such error in vs 2012: NuGet Package restore failed for project Miscellaneous Files: Value cannot be null or an empty string. Parameter name: root. 0 0 I see that it's a bug https://nuget.codeplex.com/workitem/3780 that was fixed for …

Read More