How to disable "transitive package management" for a Visual Studio project

Question

How do I disable "transitive package management"?

I wish to do so, so that I can install a package that I "packed" locally and have in a .nupkg file. When I attempt to do so, I get a messaging stating that The 'Source' parameter is not respected for the transitive package management based project(s) {csproj file}. The enabled sources in your NuGet configuration will be used.

Complete Context

When developing a NuGet package that's not ready for distribution via our NuGet feed, I often create a local .nupkg file like this from the package manager console:

nuget pack {path-to-csproj-file}

This generates a {project-name}.nupkg file, which I can then install in another project by opening it in Visual Studio, navigating to the package manager console, and entering the command

Install-Package {path-to-nupkg-file}

This has worked great and once the NuGet package is ready for distribution, we push it up to Azure DevOps and let the build pipeline there push it into our feed.

However, I just recently inherited a project where the prior developer apparently setup "transitive package management" that prevents this workflow. Here's what I get when I try to install directly from a .nupkg file:

Install-Package C:\Users\Josh\source\repos\SpeakerDiscountManager\SpeakerDiscountData.1.0.5.nupkg
The 'Source' parameter is not respected for the transitive package management based project(s) MembershipApplicationWidget\MembershipApplicationWidget.csproj. The enabled sources in your NuGet configuration will be used. 
<snipped several lines of unsuccessfully searching configured package sources>
Install-Package : NU1102: Unable to find package SpeakerDiscountData with version (>= 1.0.5)

Obviously, it doesn't find the package I've specified via file, because it is searching online feeds and it doesn't exist in any of our online package sources--the package is in a testing state, not ready for anyone to use but me.

Based on the error message, I need to turn off "transitive package management" so that I can specify a file source for the package, but I've been unable to turn up any information online about how this is configured.

I did try installing this exact same .nupkg file in another project, using the same Install-Package {path-to-nupkg-file} procedure. This works.

Answer 1

Just go to Vs IDE Tools/Nuget Package Manager/Package Manager Setting And Check The address of Package Sources. it's something like "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\NuGetPackages". Then Copy your package file into that folder and at last run this command in Package Manager Console: install-package packagename

Answer 2

How to disable “transitive package management” for a Visual Studio project

I think this problem transitive package management is related to your current project structure which has some intricate dependencies, custom rules and so on. Therefore, turning off transitive package management is unpractical. If you create other projects and then install this package by your way, I think it probably will not occur.

As a best workaround, as you said(hint from the message The enabled sources in your NuGet configuration will be used.), add the the local nuget package's path into Nuget Package Source.

In your side, I think you specify -Source xxxxx(the path of the nuget package) to install this package in the package manager console, if so, this function actually is inconvenient.

You can just add the folder path which SpeakerDiscountData.1.0.5.nupkg exists into global nuget package source. Once you have done it, it will applies to any projects in this machine.

It has two ways:

1) VS IDE UI

Tools-->Options-->NuGet Package Manager-->Packages Sources-->add a new key and input the path of the nuget folder. Also, check its option.

2) global NuGet.Config file

(C:\Users\xxxx\AppData\Roaming\NuGet\Nuget.Config and step 1 is just add the path into this file by VS UI Control)

add these:

<packageSources>
    <add key="Local Packages Source" value="C:\Users\Josh\source\repos\SpeakerDiscountManager\" />
..........
</packageSources>

After that, you can use your command to install this nuget package.

Note: If the root directory of your solution also has a file named nuget.config, the parameters in it will override the global file. It has the highest priority.