'Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop' specified could not be found

[Abukaff]

C:\Share\UnrealEngine\Engine\Source\Programs\AutomationTool\AutomationTool.csproj(61,31): error MSB4236: The SDK 'Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop' specified could not be found.

i have tried installed almost every SDK on the visual studio installer
6 , 5 , 3.1
visual studio 2019 and 2022 are installed
i found Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop as nuget but i should not be adding it to the project.
what could be the issue ?

i can build the engine from visual studio

[isaac-mcfadyen]

I ran into this myself. I solved it with these steps:

• Install Visual Studio (2019 if you are on the release branch or 2022 if you are on the ue5-main branch).
• Make sure to tick (when installing):
  • Game Development with C++
  • .NET SDK
  • .NET Runtime 6 (LTS)
  • NuGet Package Manager
• Hit modify, let that complete. Now for the important step. It seems that if you install .NET Core 3.1 via Visual Studio Unreal Engine doesn't pick it up when building. To solve this, install .NET Core 3.1 manually via this link.
• Make sure to reboot after you've installed everything.

The key part of this is the manual .NET Core install. If you install via Visual Studio then Unreal Engine doesn't seem to pick it up; doing the manual install solves this.