# Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: \<. Path ' ', line 0 , position 0

**URL:** <https://community.sonarsource.com/t/unexpected-character-encountered-while-parsing-value-path-line-0-position-0/46033>\
**Category:** SonarQube Server / Community Build\
**Created:** [July 7, 2021, 6:20am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/unexpected-character-encountered-while-parsing-value-path-line-0-position-0/46033 "2021-07-07T06:20:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Santrip](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/santrip/32/16034_2.png) [@Santrip](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Santrip)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2021, 6:20am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/unexpected-character-encountered-while-parsing-value-path-line-0-position-0/46033/1 "2021-07-07T06:20:31Z")

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HI,

I am trying to use Sonar task in Azure Devops Pipeline. But it seems to fail in the initial prepare analyze stage with this error - Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: \<. Path ’ ', line 0 , position 0. There are no other details to this error nor there are any logs in the sonar server. The azure devops extension of sonarqube that I am using is 4.21.0 and the sonarqube version is 6.2. IS there any issues with the versions used? Any pointers/directions to resolve this issue is highly appreciated. Thanks!

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**Author:** ![Joe](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/joe/32/14820_2.png) [@Joe](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Joe)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 1:31am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/unexpected-character-encountered-while-parsing-value-path-line-0-position-0/46033/2 "2021-07-08T01:31:24Z")

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Hi @Santrip ,

Welcome to SonarSource Community! :sonarsource:

First, please upgrade to SonarQube 9.0 first. You are using a very old version that may be causing your problems. If you still have issues, please post the entire stack trace and logs here. Please enable debug logs by adding `sonar.verbose=true` to your Prepare SonarQube Configuration step in the `extraProperties` key.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Santrip](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/santrip/32/16034_2.png) [@Santrip](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Santrip)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 9:16am UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/unexpected-character-encountered-while-parsing-value-path-line-0-position-0/46033/3 "2021-07-08T09:16:23Z")

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HI,

Thanks for the update. I did try running the pipeline by setting sonar.verbose=true. But still there isnt any other additional details available in the log-

2021-07-08T08:50:46.5194594Z (node:1096) Warning: Use Cipheriv for counter mode of aes-256-ctr

2021-07-08T08:50:46.6035763Z [command]C:\_\_w\_tasks\SonarQubePrepare\_15b84ca1-b62f-4a2a-a403-89b77a063157\4.21.0\classic-sonar-scanner-msbuild\SonarScanner.MSBuild.exe begin /k:projectkeyvaluehere

2021-07-08T08:50:46.7222751Z SonarScanner for MSBuild 5.2.1

2021-07-08T08:50:46.7223551Z Using the .NET Framework version of the Scanner for MSBuild

2021-07-08T08:50:46.8609305Z Pre-processing started.

2021-07-08T08:50:46.8736567Z Preparing working directories…

2021-07-08T08:50:47.0511314Z 08:50:46.96 Updating build integration targets…

2021-07-08T08:50:47.2015256Z 08:50:47.116 08:50:47.116 WARNING: The version of SonarQube you are using is deprecated. Analyses will fail starting 6.0 release of the Scanner for .NET

2021-07-08T08:50:47.2529230Z ##[error]08:50:47.163 Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: \<. Path ‘’, line 0, position 0.

2021-07-08T08:50:47.2540654Z 08:50:47.163 Unexpected character encountered while parsing value: \<. Path ‘’, line 0, position 0.

2021-07-08T08:50:47.2542295Z ##[error]08:50:47.163 Pre-processing failed. Exit code: 1

2021-07-08T08:50:47.2543598Z 08:50:47.163 Pre-processing failed. Exit code: 1

2021-07-08T08:50:47.2847610Z ##[error]The process ‘C:\_\_w\_tasks\SonarQubePrepare\_15b84ca1-b62f-4a2a-a403-89b77a063157\4.21.0\classic-sonar-scanner-msbuild\SonarScanner.MSBuild.exe’ failed with exit code 1

2021-07-08T08:50:47.3214838Z ##[section]Finishing: Prepare analysis on SonarQube

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Joe](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/sonarsource/user_avatar/community.sonarsource.com/joe/32/14820_2.png) [@Joe](https://community.sonarsource.com/u/Joe)\
**Post date:** [July 8, 2021, 4:57pm UTC](https://community.sonarsource.com/t/unexpected-character-encountered-while-parsing-value-path-line-0-position-0/46033/4 "2021-07-08T16:57:55Z")

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Please upgrade to the latest version of SonarQube (either 8.9 or 9.0) and try again. The error is something I’ve seen in very old versions of SonarQube.