Cannot install anything using dotnet tool install command

Question

I'm trying to install the dotnet-ef tool via the dotnet-cli.

The command that I enter: dotnet tool install --global dotnet-ef

It gives me the following error:

   C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Temp\147383a8-b714-4336-bb96-30c0670ea37d\restore.csproj : error NU1211: Project res
tore must have a single package reference(s).
C:\Users\abby.rahimi\AppData\Local\Temp\147383a8-b714-4336-bb96-30c0670ea37d\restore.csproj : error NU1212: Invalid pro
ject-package combination for Microsoft.DotNet.Analyzers.Compatibility 0.2.12-alpha. DotnetToolReference project style c
an only contain references of the DotnetTool type
The tool package could not be restored.
Tool 'dotnet-ef' failed to install. This failure may have been caused by:

* You are attempting to install a preview release and did not use the --version option to specify the version.
* A package by this name was found, but it was not a .NET tool.
* The required NuGet feed cannot be accessed, perhaps because of an Internet connection problem.
* You mistyped the name of the tool.

its not just about ef, I cant install any other tool.

I tried specifying version, still not working I tried a bunch of things:

• dotnet tool install -g dotnet-ef --ignore-failed-sources
• reinstalling dotnet sdks (3.1 and 6.0.305)
• dotnet tool uninstall --global dotnet-ef and then tried to install again
• removed executable dotnet-ef.exe from C:\Users%USERNAME%.dotnet\tools
• run command in both power shell and win cli

I have an acces to https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json so it's not the problem with my internet connection.

Answer 1

One thing to check is if the main NuGet source is configured with the dotnet SDK. Normally it should have the https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json source by default, but maybe something went wrong, and the source list got messed up.

First thing to check is what source(s) are configured on your installation, by running the following command line:

dotnet nuget list source

If you do NOT see the source for the standard https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json path, you can add it back in with the following command line:

dotnet nuget add source https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json -n nuget.org

Note: You can name the source anything you want with the -n switch.

Another thing to check is if the source is disabled. If so, you can re-enable it with the following command:

dotnet nuget enable source nuget.org

Answer 2

it looks like dotnet tool iterates the nuget.config sources and when one fails, it doesn't continue with next ones.

In my case, it was failing because I have a private feed, which needs authentication (despite that configured in nuget.config).

Thanks to @wli3 who mentioned use of: --ignore-failed-sources like this:

dotnet tool install -g nbgv --ignore-failed-sources

Which did helped. Original link: https://github.com/dotnet/sdk/issues/16215#issuecomment-791796542