The element <#text> beneath element <Target> is unrecognized in Azure

I faced this problem too.The error text was:

The element <#text> beneath element <Target> is unrecognized.c:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin\Microsoft.CSharp.CurrentVersion.targets

The solution for me was to check the indicated file against a working one from one of my coleagues. Even an XML parser or even a browser would pop-up an error when faced to this sort of error. A element under <Target> was corrupt. Instead of <Csc ... /> I had exactly 07sc ... />.I fixed formatting and It worked.Mind you that the file indicated in the error text (Microsoft.CSharp.CurrentVersion.targets) was the guilty one.Hope this helps.

This also happens if a Property, that should be under a <PropertyGroup> node is a child of a <Target> node

wrong (produces the error):

<Project ToolsVersion="15.0" DefaultTargets="CalculateVariables" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">  <Target Name="CalculateVariables">    <IsWrong>true</IsWrong>  </Target></Project>

right (works):

<Project ToolsVersion="15.0" DefaultTargets="CalculateVariables" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">  <Target Name="CalculateVariables">    <PropertyGroup>      <IsWrong>true</IsWrong>    <PropertyGroup>  </Target></Project>

This also happens with generic XML errors. In my case it was >> somewhere in the project file. Was a copy-paste error during conflict resolution that introduced it. Sadly, the output does not include the line that has the error, so try searching for << and >> in the file, to see if that is an issue somewhere.