Fix "The solution file is invalid" when you import a solution

You start a solution import in Power Apps or Power Automate, pick the .zip, and the import fails with: "The solution file is invalid. The compressed file must contain the following files at its root: solution.xml, customizations.xml, and [Content_Types].xml. Customization files exported from previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics 365 are not supported." Nothing was imported and nothing in the environment changed. Dataverse opened the .zip, looked for the three files every solution has at its top level, and didn't find them. Either the file was never a solution, or its contents moved when someone unzipped and zipped it again.

What Dataverse checks

Microsoft lists this exact message among Dataverse's web service errors:

A solution is a .zip whose root, the top level when you open it, holds those three files: solution.xml, customizations.xml and [Content_Types].xml. Components sit in folders beside them; exported flows, for example, are JSON files in a Workflows folder. If any of the three isn't at the root, the import stops with this error.

To look for yourself, open the .zip in your file explorer without extracting it. If the first thing you see is a single folder, or files with other names, you've found the problem.

A package is not a solution

Power Apps and Power Automate both make .zip files that aren't solutions:

Microsoft says both kinds of package can't be used with Dataverse solution packages, because the formats are incompatible. So importing one through Solutions fails, and the fix is the import that matches it, not a repair to the file.

If you want the app or flow in a solution from now on, import the package first, then add the app or flow to a solution in that environment and export the solution. Microsoft recommends solutions for moving work between environments; packages don't support application lifecycle management.

A solution that was unzipped and zipped again

Microsoft's own example of this error: someone extracted a solution .zip, edited customizations.xml, and zipped up just that one file. The other two files were missing, so the import failed. Its fix is to select all of the files that were in the original .zip and compress them together.

The same rule catches a common slip: compressing the folder that holds the files, rather than the files themselves. The three files then sit one level down, inside that folder, instead of at the root.

A better way to change a solution's files is the Power Platform CLI, which replaced the older SolutionPackager tool for this job:

pac solution unpack --zipfile C:\work\LowCodeStacksExpenses.zip --folder C:\work\LowCodeStacksExpenses
# edit the files in the folder, then:
pac solution pack --zipfile C:\work\LowCodeStacksExpenses-edited.zip --folder C:\work\LowCodeStacksExpenses

pac solution unpack lays the files out for source control, in a different shape from the .zip (in the classic layout, Solution.xml and Customizations.xml sit in an Other folder). So don't zip an unpacked folder by hand; pac solution pack puts everything back where a solution needs it.

Export it again

If the file wasn't a package and nobody edited it, it may be from an older system, renamed from something else, or damaged on the way. The reliable fix is a fresh export:

1. In the source environment, open the solution and export it as managed or unmanaged, as the target needs.
2. Download the .zip and import that file unchanged.
3. Only import solutions from a source you trust; Microsoft's import page says so too.

The message itself names one case you can't fix by repacking: customization files exported from previous versions of Microsoft Dynamics 365 aren't supported. Those need to come from a current environment.

The related import errors

Sources

• The solution file is invalid error occurs in Microsoft Dynamics 365 — Microsoft Learn
• Web service error codes: Microsoft Dataverse errors — Microsoft Learn
• Import solutions — Microsoft Learn
• Import a solution (Power Automate) — Microsoft Learn
• Export a solution: flows in the Workflows folder — Microsoft Learn
• Overview of exporting and importing canvas apps — Microsoft Learn
• Export and import canvas apps as a package — Microsoft Learn
• Export and import a non-solution flow — Microsoft Learn
• CoE Starter Kit FAQ: import a flow (Import Package (Legacy) screenshot) — Microsoft Learn
• pac solution: unpack and pack — Microsoft Learn
• SolutionPackager tool — Microsoft Learn
• When to edit the customizations file — Microsoft Learn
• This solution package cannot be imported because it contains invalid XML — Microsoft Learn