Visual Studio 2010 web deployment projects do not remote the App_Data folder
Having come accross the problem before that Visual Studio 2010 web deployment projects do not remote the App_Data folder even though you have checked the box to do exactly that I have today found myself trying to find what the resolution was again so thought I would blog about it partially for your benefit but also for my own sanity should I need this information again. Open the file C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\WebDeployment\v10.0\Microsoft.WebDeployment.targets Locate the following section and add in the missing red backslash <!-- Removing APP_DATA is done here so that the output groups reflect the fact that App_data is not present --> <RemoveDir Condition="'$(DeleteAppDataFolder)' == 'true'" Directories="$(TempBuildDir) \ App_Data"/> ...