Web Deploy Failed Publish - visual-studio-2017

Question

While I publish in VS its filed with message "Publish Failed".
the Output:
Start Web Deploy Publish the Application/package to https:// -myStite-...
D:\VisualStudio\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v15.0\Web\Microsoft.Web.Publishing.targets(4292,5): Error : Web deployment task failed. ((30/10/2017 08:19:07) An error occurred when the request was processed on the remote computer.)
(30/10/2017 08:19:07) An error occurred when the request was processed on the remote computer.
Value cannot be null.
at System.Version.Parse(String input)
at System.Version..ctor(String version)
at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentAgentWorkerRequest.get_MaximumSupportedVersion()
at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentAgent.HandleClientServerVersionMismatch(DeploymentAgentWorkerRequest workerRequest)
at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentAgent.HandleRequestWorker(DeploymentAgentAsyncData asyncData)
at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentAgent.HandleRequest(DeploymentAgentAsyncData asyncData)
at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentAgent.BeginProcessRequest(DeploymentAgentWorkerRequest workerRequest, AsyncCallback callback, Object extraData)
Publish failed to deploy.
========= Build: 1 succeeded, 0 failed, 0 up-to-date, 0 skipped ==========
========= Publish: 0 succeeded, 1 failed, 0 skipped ==========
in the EventViwer on the server, this exception:
User: -my user-
Client IP: 10.0.0.138
Content-Type:
Version: 9.0.0.0
MSDeploy.VersionMin:
MSDeploy.VersionMax:
MSDeploy.Method:
MSDeploy.RequestId:
MSDeploy.RequestCulture:
MSDeploy.RequestUICulture:
ServerVersion: 9.0.1955.0
A tracing deployment agent exception occurred that was propagated to the client. Request ID ''. Request Timestamp: '30/10/2017 08:02:11'. Error Details:
System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
Parameter name: input
at System.Version.Parse(String input)
at System.Version..ctor(String version)
at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentAgentWorkerRequest.get_MaximumSupportedVersion()
at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentAgent.HandleClientServerVersionMismatch(DeploymentAgentWorkerRequest workerRequest)
at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentAgent.HandleRequestWorker(DeploymentAgentAsyncData asyncData)
at Microsoft.Web.Deployment.DeploymentAgent.HandleRequest(DeploymentAgentAsyncData asyncData)
In the past he worked very well (same saved configuration), and now it fails sometimes.

Answer 1

I had the exact same problem and finally solved it after hours of experimenting. The problem was being caused by my ISP blocking/interfering with just that type of traffic. Everything else seemed to work on the ISP, but not publishing my website from Visual Studio (MsDeploy). Fortunately I have other ISPs providing broadband at my home so I was able to connect to a different ISP immediately and then publish successfully.
The problem occurred on the mobile broadband service provider Three.co.uk. Other broadband providers that I tried have not had this problem.
It was the following discussion (I translated it from Chinese) which made me realise that my ISP was causing the issue.
https://t.codebug.vip/questions-453963.htm
There is post there from someone with the exact same problem, who has a web server behind CloudFlare and that is what was causing the problem for them. I am guessing that CloudFlare was put there by their ISP.
I also found another message by someone who also tracked the problem down to their ISP:
https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/7b345fc9-5e3d-4015-99a9-26746ca3d84f/socket-error-10054-when-deploying-web-app-to-azure-via-visual-studio?forum=windowsazurewebsitespreview
Running the publish from behind a VPN has solved the issue for them.
So just try publishing via a different ISP or from behind a VPN. If you only have one fixed line broadband provider, then perhaps try tethering to your phone's broadband provider and publish over that connection.