MSDeploy setParamFile is not recognizing parameters

Try changing the value in "name" from "SqlConnString" to "YourSqlConnectionName-Web.config Connection String". If you want to know the exact name you have to look at your web.config file. The above example should work for a section like this in your web.config file:

  <connectionStrings>    <add name="YourSqlConnectionName"      connectionString="...;Initial Catalog=xxx;server=xxx;"      providerName="System.Data.EntityClient"/>  </connectionStrings>

So you should configure your setParameters.xml file like:

<parameters>  <setParameter name="YourSqlConnectionName-Web.config Connection String" value="...Initial Catalog=xxx;server=xxx;"/></parameters>

and your Parameters.xml file like:

<parameters>  <parameter name="YourSqlConnectionName-Web.config Connection String" description="Please provide the SQL connection string" defaultValue="...;Initial Catalog=xxx;server=xxx;" tags="">    <parameterEntry kind="XmlFile" scope="\\web.config$" match="/configuration/connectionStrings/add[@name='YourSqlConnectionName']/@connectionString" />  </parameter></parameters>

Hope this solves your issue.