Visual Studio Code – Same solution on different machines producing different Nuget package output

I need help.

My project has recently moved from .NET Framework 4.8 to NET 6. We have everything uplifted and compiling, including the migration from packages.config to PackageReference.

This project is somewhat unique in that it has:

1. An outward-facing Git repository that can connect to the internet
2. A private Git repository that is offline

This means we have two builds, one for each repository. To accomplish this, we have to copy the code and Nuget packages from the outward-facing Git repo to the private Git repo. Obviously, we only want to copy the Nuget packages that are required since some packages already exist on the systems that use the private Git repo (e.g., NET 6 packages, DevExpress packages, etc.).

Here’s the issue.

When I build the solution from Visual Studio on my laptop, the global packages folder contains 204 packages. When I guild the exact same solution from Visual Studio on our public build system, the global packages folder contains 125 packages. The total number of packages should be the same regardless of outward-facing system, and for the life of me, I cannot figure out why this is happening or how to fix it.

We have a NuGet.config file located in the solution folder (content below). I have built using Visual Studio with Diagnostic output enabled and verified that the exact same NuGet config files are referenced and have the same content between my laptop and the public build system. This would lead me to believe that there is software (perhaps Visual Studio components?) installed on the public build system that are referenced from their installation location, but my laptop is having to pull them from one of the package sources. I simply don’t know what else it could be, but I don’t see any differences in this regard.

Can anyone suggest things to investigate?

Here’s our local NuGet.config file content:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <config>
    <add key="globalPackagesFolder" value=".packages" />
    <add key="dependencyVersion" value="Highest" />
  </config>
  <packageSources>
    <clear />
    <add key="nuget.org" value="https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json" protocolVersion="3" />
  </packageSources>
  <packageRestore>
    <clear />
    <add key="enabled" value="True" />
    <add key="automatic" value="True" />
  </packageRestore>
  <bindingRedirects>
    <clear />
    <add key="skip" value="False" />
  </bindingRedirects>
  <packageManagement>
    <clear />
    <add key="format" value="1" />
    <add key="disabled" value="False" />
  </packageManagement>
</configuration>