How to permanently remove an unused transitive NuGet package

After switching from System.Data.SqlClient to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient in one of my solutions I am unable to permanently remove unused System.Data.SqlClient from the solution as it keeps getting restored by NuGet. When I search the entire solution for 'System.Data.SqlClient' nothing is found and none of the .csproj files contain a PackageReference entry for it.

What I tried so far:

• Clean/Rebuild solution.
• Delete all the bin/obj folders under affected projects followed by Clean/Rebuild solution.
• nuget locals all -clear followed by Clean/Rebuild.
• nuget delete System.Data.SqlClient 4.8.1 in Package Manager Console
• Install the latest as Top-level package and uninstall (when I do this 4.8.1 is again restored as Transitive.

I have no further ideas.

I am unable to permanently remove unused System.Data.SqlClient from the solution as it keeps getting restored by NuGet

From looking at your screenshot, the package System.Data.SqlClient is a transitive package referenced by a Top-Level package. If the package you uninstalled is still required by another package, it will be reinstalled the next time you restore or build your project.

If you want to permanently remove System.Data.SqlClient, please hover over the transitive package and track the source of this dependency.

If the transitive package is only used by one parent package, you can uninstall the parent package. You can also use the following command to see all transitive dependencies and their relationships.

 dotnet list package --include-transitive 

If you don't want to uninstall the parent package, you can modify the .csproj file to prevent the transitive package from being included in your project.

For example:

<PackageReference Include="ServiceStack.OrmLite.SqlServer" Version="8.6.0">
  <PrivateAssets>all</PrivateAssets>
</PackageReference>

Docs Referred:

PackageReference in project files