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Publishing a .csproj through TFS visual studio build task

For the software at work we have multiple projects in a solution. Most of the project we can just build the solution and then publish artifacts of the web project that we need. API and Auth projects are slightly different though. Our currently deployment process is manual and for the API (STARS.API.csproj) and Auth (STARS.Auth.csproj) project when would go into Visual Studio 2017 and right click the project and click publish, select a profile and then publish. Once that is done we take the Publish Output and drop those files on our server.
We are trying to move to a automated process through TFS and I am using the Visual Studio Build task in a build definition. However when I try to run this through TFS, an error saying that the publish profile cannot be found:
Validating PublishProfile(TFSProfile.pubxml) settings. C:\Program
Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual
Studio\2017\Professional\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v15.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets(4368,5):
Error : The value for PublishProfile is set to 'TFSProfile.pubxml',
expected to find the file at
'C:\agent_work\4\s\STARS\Source-dev\STARS.Web\Properties\PublishProfiles\TFSProfile.pubxml'
but it could not be found.
It is looking for publish profile in a different project folder.
Visual Studio Build Task:
I feel that I can approaching this completely wrong. I am just trying to replicate the process on publishing the project through Visual Studio 2017 manually.
Please let me know if you require more information.

I suggest you start using the pre-defined build variables. $(Build.SourcesDirectory) will map to C:\agent_work\4\s, and from there you can create a full path to the TFSProfile.pubxml, where ever it might be in your source tree. Use this full path in the MB Build Arguments, PublishProfile property, e.g.
/p:PublishProfile=$(Build.SourcesDirectory)\STARS\Source-dev\STARS-API\TFSProfile.pubxml
Another problem you may have is that in the Solution field you are not specifying a solution (.sln) but a project (.csproj). I suspect that MSBuild is picking up the solution associated with that csproj, and building the whole solution, which is why it is looking for a publish profile in STARS.Web. Have you created a publish profile for STARS.API?

How to fix "You must upgrade the project to target Microsoft Azure Tools 2.8"?

I've got a project that's set to Azure 2.6. I have Visual Studio 2015 installed. I get prompted to upgrade the project (see image 1 below), which I do not want to do (it's production code and I don't know what the side effects may be, how many things might break).
I tried installing Azure 2.6 and related tools, but it doesn't help. Image 2 shows all the Azure related stuff I have installed
I have a coworker who has Visual Studio 2015 and can load the Azure project in the solution without a problem (see image 3). So it's clear that you don't have to upgrade the project.
I'm going to try installing VS 2013 Community Edition + Azure 2.7 tools to see if that satisfies it. I'm grasping at straws at this point.
Any ideas?

A coworker helped me to come up with the solution:
Go to the "Microsoft Azure SDK for .NET - 2.6" page here:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=46892
Download "MicrosoftAzureTools.VS140.exe" and install it
Run appwiz.cpl from the run prompt and filter on "azure" in upper right
You should see "Microsoft Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 - v2.6"
Open Visual Studio 2015 again and your project should now load without prompting to upgrade. Do a Rebuild All just in case to make sure it builds.
It turns out I had dang near everything installed except that one 2015 tools + 2.6 Azure combination.

Visual Studio 2015 - Store menu disabled/missing for new Blank Universal App C#

I am experiencing a frustrating behaviour of VS2015 Community under Windows 10.
When I create a simple Universal Blank App C# after launching and testing the code the Store menu to create the app packages and launch the certification kit is missing. I checked that my developer account is signed in, enabled developer mode on the machine, reinstalled VS checking to install Universal App development and Windows 10 SDK. Nothing enables this menu. No more options to create apps are present, just Blank App, I had more templates available under VS2013.
It is also weird that when I select to edit appmanifest it never displays the editor, just the XML, it seems like the whole app store environment is disabled. The project is not being recognized as an app.
Another big problem is that the designer does not display the XAML files to see the graphical elements. I get an error screen with tons of errors about null exceptions.
I need to port some 8.1 apps to Win10 Universal and these set of problems are driving me crazy.
Any help more than appreciated.

Possible Fix 1: "Change" the installation to make sure the VS extensions are installed
In certain situations, the Xamarin installer might automatically un-check the install options for the Visual Studio extensions. If that's the cause of the problem in your case, you can install the missing Visual Studio extensions using the installer's "Change" command. For example, if you wanted to install the extensions for Visual Studio 2013:
Open the Windows "Programs and Features" Control Panel.
Right click the "Xamarin" entry, and select "Change".
Click "Next", then "Change".
Make sure the "Xamarin for Visual Studio 2013" option is set to install:
Enable Xamarin for Visual Studio 2013 installation option
Proceed through the rest of the installer wizard.
Possible Fix 2: Ask Visual Studio to set up the extensions again
Check if the Xamarin extensions have been copied into the Visual Studio extensions folder:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Xamarin\Xamarin\3.1.228.0"
If the extensions are properly installed (for version 3.1.228), there will be 60 items in the folder:
List of 'Xamarin\3.1.228.0' folder contents in Explorer​
After you have confirmed that this folder looks correct, tell Visual Studio to try setting up the extensions again:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" /setup
Possible Fix 3: Try a fresh reinstall of Xamarin
From the Windows Control Panel, uninstall any of the following that are present:
Xamarin
Xamarin for Windows
Xamarin.Android
Xamarin.iOS
Xamarin for Visual Studio
In Explorer, delete any remaining files from the Xamarin Visual Studio extension folders (all versions, including both Program Files and Program Files (x86)):
C:\Program Files*\Microsoft Visual Studio 1*.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Xamarin
Also check in the "VirtualStore" directory to see if there might be any "overlay" copies of any of the extension directories:
%LOCALAPPDATA%\VirtualStore
Open the registry editor (regedit).
Look for this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SharedDlls
Find and delete any entries that match this pattern:
C:\Program Files*\Microsoft Visual Studio 1*.0\Common7\IDE\Extensions\Xamarin
Look for this key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\1*.0\ExtensionManager\PendingDeletions
Delete any entries that look like they might be related to Xamarin. For example, here's one that used to cause trouble in older versions of Xamarin:
Mono.VisualStudio.Shell,1.0
Reboot.
Reinstall the current stable version of Xamarin using the individual installer (.msi) download link under Xamarin.iOS -> Windows or Xamarin.Android -> Windows on http://store.xamarin.com/account/my/subscription/downloads.
Possible Fix 4: Repair Visual Studio installation
Open the Windows "Programs and Features" Control Panel.
Right click the relevant Microsoft Visual Studio entry, and select "Change"
Click the "Repair" button in the Visual Studio dialog that opens.
link : https://kb.xamarin.com/customer/portal/articles/1643349-missing-visual-studio-extensions-after-installation

Bulid SQLite-Net Extensions in visual studio professional 2013 but not successful

I am new to windows app and I am going to build the sqlite-net extension project to .dll file in order to make the models have the relationship attribute of one-to-many, one-to-one, many-to-many.
Link: https://bitbucket.org/twincoders/sqlite-net-extensions
This is the info that it shows when I open the project in visual studio 2013.
Unsupported
This version of Visual Studio is unable to open the
following projects. The project types may not be installed or this
version of Visual Studio may not support them. For more information
on enabling these project types or otherwise migrating your assets,
please see the details in the "Migration Report" displayed after
clicking OK.
- IntegrationTests.Touch-MvvmCross, "C:\Users\**\Downloads\sqlite-net-extensions\sqlite-net-extensions\IntegrationTests.Touch\IntegrationTests.Touch-MvvmCross.csproj"
- IntegrationTests.Touch-PCL, "C:\Users\**\Downloads\sqlite-net-extensions\sqlite-net-extensions\IntegrationTests.Touch\IntegrationTests.Touch-PCL.csproj"
No changes required These projects can be opened in Visual Studio
2013, Visual Studio 2012, and Visual Studio 2010 SP1 without changing
them.
- Tests, "C:\Users\**\Downloads\sqlite-net-extensions\sqlite-net-extensions\Tests\Tests.csproj"
- MvvmCross, "MvvmCross"
- SQLiteNetExtensions-MvvmCross, "C:\Users\**\Downloads\sqlite-net-extensions\sqlite-net-extensions\SQLiteNetExtensions\SQLiteNetExtensions-MvvmCross.csproj"
- SQLiteNetExtensions-PCL, "C:\Users\**\Downloads\sqlite-net-extensions\sqlite-net-extensions\SQLiteNetExtensions\SQLiteNetExtensions-PCL.csproj"
- SQLiteNetExtensions, "C:\Users\**\Downloads\sqlite-net-extensions\sqlite-net-extensions\SQLiteNetExtensions.sln"
I try to build it and it shows some errors. So I right click the project and download the missing packages. When I try to build it again, it shows these errors:
Does anyone successfully bulid it to .dll file or anyone can fix the problems like these?
Many Thanks!

The Integration test projects are MonoTouch projects, that won't open in Visual Studio unless you have Xamarin Business license installed in your PC.
However, the SQLite-Net Extensions project is a standard PCL project and you will be able to compile it from Visual Studio without Xamarin. The problem that you are describing is probably related to not having the SQLite-Net dependency downloaded.
Make sure that you have NuGet Package Manager plugin installed and restore NuGet packages for the project to restore the dependencies and it should work.
You can also download the pre-compiled DLL from the Download page in the project page.

I solved it with changing the build platform. Thx guys!

Azure SDK is installed but Visual Studio 2012 doesn't see it

Under cloud I only see "Get Windows Azure SDK for .NET" yet I know it's installed. The installer sees it.
I should mention I have Visual Studio 2010 installed along size 2012. 2010 has all the project types and works great.

Open Programs and Features, locate the 'Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio 20xx' (where xx is the version of Visual Studio you are experiencing the issue with)
Right click and choose Repair.
Once the repair is complete, re-open Visual Studio, search installed templates for 'Cloud' and the 'Windows Azure Cloud Service' project should appear, confirming that the issue is resolved.

I had this same problem. Rebooted, still couldn't get it to recognize the Azure SDK 2.1 for VS 2012.
When I right-clicked, I only had the options to Uninstall or Change. I chose Uninstall, and another windows popped up asking if I wanted to repair. I chose Repair and then finally Windows Azure Cloud Service appeared.

I've had similar issue few days ago. Both, VS10 and VS12 installed on Win 7 machine. And VC12 didn't see azure so I followed steps from VS12 and installed it again and then it still didn't work.
However, after VS12 and system restart it actually worked.