The layout view '~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml' could not be located

Question

The below image shows the project structure I am working on:

Inside Areas -> Billing -> Views -> _viewstart.cshtml, I have specified the path to the layout which I want to apply to the entire application but I keep getting the following error:

• Error:

InvalidOperationException: The layout view '~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml' could not be located. The following locations were searched: ~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml

• Layout Path

  @{ Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml"; }

Answer 1

missing @RenderSection("scripts", required: false)

Answer 2

Check this:

1. Go to _Layout.cshtml properties
2. Build action must be equal to Content

Answer 3

I was able to find a solution to my issue, by moving the layout to the root folder as shown in the below image: