Visual Studio Code – Cannot use System.IO.Ports in my C# .NET 8 console application

I have some experience in creating a C# application using .NET framework. However, I am stumped how to get this one solved.

Ok, spent the last hour trying to get the simplest of applications running using C# and a .NET 8 console application.

My goal: read text from a serial USB connection from an ESP8266 serial monitor.

I have seen plenty of examples doing this:

using System.IO.Ports;
using System.IO;

SerialPort port = new SerialPort();

This utterly fails on my system. It seams that something is missing: the System.IO.Ports.

Determining projects to restore...
All projects are up-to-date for restore.

C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bProgram.cs(7,1): error CS1069: The type name 'SerialPort' could not be found in the namespace 'System.IO.Ports'. This type has been forwarded to assembly 'Syst
em.IO.Ports, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51' Consider adding a reference to that assembly. [C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b.csproj]
C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bProgram.cs(7,29): error CS1069: The type name 'SerialPort' could not be found in the namespace 'System.IO.Ports'. This type has been forwarded to assembly 'Sys
tem.IO.Ports, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51' Consider adding a reference to that assembly. [C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b.csproj]

Build FAILED.

C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bProgram.cs(7,1): error CS1069: The type name 'SerialPort' could not be found in the namespace 'System.IO.Ports'. This type has been forwarded to assembly 'Syst
em.IO.Ports, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51' Consider adding a reference to that assembly. [C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b.csproj]
C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bProgram.cs(7,29): error CS1069: The type name 'SerialPort' could not be found in the namespace 'System.IO.Ports'. This type has been forwarded to assembly 'Sys
tem.IO.Ports, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51' Consider adding a reference to that assembly. [C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b.csproj]
    0 Warning(s)
    2 Error(s)

Time Elapsed 00:00:01.50

Looking in the project explorer I see these:

I searched everywhere and there was the suggestion that I should install a NuGet package for this:

Results in:


C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b>dotnet add package System.IO.Ports --version 8.0.0
  Determining projects to restore...
  Writing C:Userse2692AppDataLocalTemptmpb01oaz.tmp
info : X.509 certificate chain validation will use the default trust store selected by .NET for code signing.
info : X.509 certificate chain validation will use the default trust store selected by .NET for timestamping.
info : Adding PackageReference for package 'System.IO.Ports' into project 'C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b.csproj'.
info : Restoring packages for C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b.csproj...
error: NU1101: Unable to find package System.IO.Ports. No packages exist with this id in source(s): Microsoft Visual Studio Offline Packages
error: Package 'System.IO.Ports' is incompatible with 'all' frameworks in project 'C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b.csproj'.

Some people suggest that the System.IO.Ports is not supported by .NET 8 (or any version at all). However, Microsoft has a manual page

Running on Windows 11. Tried Jetbrains Rider and Visual Studio 2022 Community edition.

Executing the dotnet --version in the project folder:

C:sourcesesp8266USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b>dotnet --version
8.0.402

Outside:

C:>dotnet --version
8.0.402

C:>dotnet --list-sdks
6.0.425 [C:Program Filesdotnetsdk]
8.0.400 [C:Program Filesdotnetsdk]
8.0.402 [C:Program Filesdotnetsdk]

More info on my project:

Solution properties:

# Visual Studio Version 17
VisualStudioVersion = 17.11.35312.102
MinimumVisualStudioVersion = 10.0.40219.1
Project("{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}") = "USBComPortReader6b", "USBComPortReader6bUSBComPortReader6b.csproj", "{92218195-33A1-48E3-B5DB-19B44769E322}"
EndProject
Global
        GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
                Debug|Any CPU = Debug|Any CPU
                Release|Any CPU = Release|Any CPU
        EndGlobalSection
        GlobalSection(ProjectConfigurationPlatforms) = postSolution
                {92218195-33A1-48E3-B5DB-19B44769E322}.Debug|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Debug|Any CPU
                {92218195-33A1-48E3-B5DB-19B44769E322}.Debug|Any CPU.Build.0 = Debug|Any CPU
                {92218195-33A1-48E3-B5DB-19B44769E322}.Release|Any CPU.ActiveCfg = Release|Any CPU
                {92218195-33A1-48E3-B5DB-19B44769E322}.Release|Any CPU.Build.0 = Release|Any CPU
        EndGlobalSection
        GlobalSection(SolutionProperties) = preSolution
                HideSolutionNode = FALSE
        EndGlobalSection
        GlobalSection(ExtensibilityGlobals) = postSolution
                SolutionGuid = {0298EA09-525B-42F7-954D-EC886703AEAC}
        EndGlobalSection
EndGlobal

The .csproj file:

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0</TargetFramework>
    <ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
    <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>

To say I am frustrated is quite the understatement. I have dealt with my share of these platform related issues but I am completely at a loss how to solve this one.

ANY help would be greatly appreciated!