This looks like a dependency collocation issue. Could you try turning on the 'Copy referenced assemblies to workspace' NCrunch project-level configuration setting for all the projects involved? Does this solve the issue?
I have just tried that and it doesn't cause any changes.
It seems like NCrunch is looking for the json file regardless of the presence of the dlls in the folder.
If there is a solution, that would be great.
However, I am wondering if this is something that is already fixed in following versions of dotnet. If that's the case, we might switch to a newer version in a few months time.
Is the problem solved in more recent frameworks of dotnet?
Is this a problem that is caused to a msbuild error? (I understand one of the targets is picking on the wrong folder).
Provided you're using .NET Core 2.2 or above, then there shouldn't be a known issue with these tests. However, the architecture of this library and the manner of its development has made it hard for us to integrate with it, so it wouldn't surprise me if there is an unconsidered edge case or a version that has changed from the known state.
The code trying to resolve the .json file isn't actually NCrunch - it'll be something in the .NET runtime or associated libraries. Normally this file should be present inside the build output directory of your test project if the 'Copy referenced assemblies to workspace' is turned on.
Is there any chance you can reproduce this problem with a small self contained sample solution? If you can share such a solution with me via the contact form, I'll be happy to take a closer look and provide further advice or a fix.
It's impossible for me to confirm this 100% without being able to reproduce and analyse the issue, but I'd say there is a better than even chance that upgrading to .NET 3.0 will resolve the issue.
Certainly if it doesn't, I will do my best to help resolve it :)