diff --git a/csharp/ApiDocs/ApiDocs.csproj b/csharp/ApiDocs/ApiDocs.csproj
index a56e605022..644dff0c7e 100644
--- a/csharp/ApiDocs/ApiDocs.csproj
+++ b/csharp/ApiDocs/ApiDocs.csproj
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
 
   <PropertyGroup>
-    <TargetFramework>net5.0</TargetFramework>
+    <TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>
     <Nullable>enable</Nullable>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
diff --git a/csharp/Nuget.CSharp.config b/csharp/NuGet.CSharp.config
similarity index 100%
rename from csharp/Nuget.CSharp.config
rename to csharp/NuGet.CSharp.config
diff --git a/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.csproj b/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.csproj
index 78083a8cc1..39d90c55b7 100644
--- a/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.csproj
+++ b/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.csproj
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
   -->
   <PropertyGroup>
     <SelectedTargets>PreNet6</SelectedTargets>
-    <BaseTargets>netstandard1.1;netstandard2.0;net5.0;netcoreapp3.1</BaseTargets>
+    <BaseTargets>netstandard1.1;netstandard2.0;netcoreapp3.1;net6.0</BaseTargets>
   </PropertyGroup>
 
   <!-- only set the Xamarin mobile targets if we're building an ORT package,
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@
   </PropertyGroup>
 
   <!-- CoreML may be valid for one of these targets as they support macOS. we do a runtime check that the OS is
-       macOS before attempting to enable CoreML. This includes net5.0, netcoreapp3.1, net6.0
+       macOS before attempting to enable CoreML. This includes netcoreapp3.1 and net6.0
        NOTE: $(TargetFrameworkIdentitier) may not be set yet, so we need to call GetTargetFrameworkIdentifier
   -->
   <PropertyGroup Condition="$([MSBuild]::GetTargetFrameworkIdentifier('$(TargetFramework)'))=='.NETCoreApp' AND
diff --git a/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/Tensors/Tensor.shared.cs b/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/Tensors/Tensor.shared.cs
index 0bc5ca7240..3b588a7847 100644
--- a/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/Tensors/Tensor.shared.cs
+++ b/csharp/src/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime/Tensors/Tensor.shared.cs
@@ -660,17 +660,21 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tensors
         }
 
         /// <summary>
-        /// Initialize an n-dimensional tensor with the specified dimensions and layout.  ReverseStride=true gives a stride of 1-element width to the first dimension (0).  ReverseStride=false gives a stride of 1-element width to the last dimension (n-1).
+        /// Initialize an n-dimensional tensor with the specified dimensions and layout.  
+        /// ReverseStride=true gives a stride of 1-element width to the first dimension (0).  
+        /// ReverseStride=false gives a stride of 1-element width to the last dimension (n-1).
         /// </summary>
-        /// <param name="dimensions">An span of integers that represent the size of each dimension of the Tensor to create.</param>
-        /// <param name="reverseStride">False (default) to indicate that the first dimension is most major (farthest apart) and the last dimension is most minor (closest together): akin to row-major in a rank-2 tensor.  True to indicate that the last dimension is most major (farthest apart) and the first dimension is most minor (closest together): akin to column-major in a rank-2 tensor.</param>
+        /// <param name="dimensions">
+        /// An span of integers that represent the size of each dimension of the Tensor to create.</param>
+        /// <param name="reverseStride">
+        /// False (default) to indicate that the first dimension is most major (farthest apart) and the last dimension 
+        /// is most minor (closest together): akin to row-major in a rank-2 tensor.  
+        /// True to indicate that the last dimension is most major (farthest apart) and the first dimension is most 
+        /// minor (closest together): akin to column-major in a rank-2 tensor.</param>
+        /// <remarks>If you pass `null` for dimensions it will implicitly convert to an empty ReadOnlySpan, which is 
+        /// equivalent to the dimensions for a scalar value.</remarks>
         protected Tensor(ReadOnlySpan<int> dimensions, bool reverseStride) : base(typeof(T))
         {
-            if (dimensions == null)
-            {
-                throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(dimensions));
-            }
-
             this.dimensions = new int[dimensions.Length];
             long size = 1;
             for (int i = 0; i < dimensions.Length; i++)
diff --git a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/InferenceTest.cs b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/InferenceTest.cs
index e662676da9..5ebca9b05b 100644
--- a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/InferenceTest.cs
+++ b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/InferenceTest.cs
@@ -108,7 +108,19 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests
 
                 var directml_dll_path = AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory;
                 SetDllDirectory(directml_dll_path);
-                opt.AppendExecutionProvider_DML(0);
+                
+                try
+                {
+                    opt.AppendExecutionProvider_DML(0);
+                }
+                catch (OnnxRuntimeException ortException)
+                {
+                    // if we run on a CI machine with the incorrect hardware we might get an error due to that.
+                    // allow that as the call made it through to the DML EP so the C# layer is working correctly. 
+                    // any other exception type or error message is considered a failure.
+                    Assert.Contains("The specified device interface or feature level is not supported on this system.",
+                                    ortException.Message);
+                }
 
                 // Restore the default dll search order
                 SetDllDirectory(null);
diff --git a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common.csproj b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common.csproj
index cc4cc5ea65..79de2b95ca 100644
--- a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common.csproj
+++ b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common.csproj
@@ -1,17 +1,19 @@
 <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
 
   <PropertyGroup>
-    <TargetFramework>netstandard2.0</TargetFramework>
+    <!-- netstandard2.0 is required by xamarin and used by most platforms.
+         net6.0 is required for linux. -->
+    <TargetFrameworks>netstandard2.0;net6.0</TargetFrameworks>
     <IsPackable>false</IsPackable>
     <OnnxRuntimeCsharpRoot>$(ProjectDir)..\..</OnnxRuntimeCsharpRoot>
-    <Platforms>AnyCPU;x86</Platforms>
+    <Platforms>AnyCPU</Platforms>
     <OutputPath>bin\$(Configuration)\</OutputPath>
-    <IsLinuxBuild Condition="'$([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::IsOSPlatform($([System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform]::Linux)))' == 'true'">true</IsLinuxBuild> 
-    <IsWindowsBuild Condition="'$([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::IsOSPlatform($([System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform]::Windows)))' == 'true'">true</IsWindowsBuild> 
-    <IsMacOSBuild Condition="'$([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::IsOSPlatform($([System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform]::OSX)))' == 'true'">true</IsMacOSBuild> 
-    <ProtoSrc>$(OnnxRuntimeCsharpRoot)\..\cmake\external\onnx;\..\cmake\external\onnx\onnx</ProtoSrc>
+    <IsLinuxBuild Condition="'$([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::IsOSPlatform($([System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform]::Linux)))' == 'true'">true</IsLinuxBuild>
+    <IsWindowsBuild Condition="'$([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::IsOSPlatform($([System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform]::Windows)))' == 'true'">true</IsWindowsBuild>
+    <IsMacOSBuild Condition="'$([System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::IsOSPlatform($([System.Runtime.InteropServices.OSPlatform]::OSX)))' == 'true'">true</IsMacOSBuild>
+    <ProtoSrc>$(OnnxRuntimeCsharpRoot)\..\cmake\external\onnx</ProtoSrc>
 
-    <!-- following attributes were necessary for the migrated Tensor tests -->  
+    <!-- following attributes were necessary for the migrated Tensor tests -->
     <LangVersion>7.2</LangVersion>
     <AllowUnsafeBlocks>True</AllowUnsafeBlocks>
     <SignAssembly>true</SignAssembly> <!-- need signing for friend access to the internals of the Tensors assembly -->
@@ -48,6 +50,7 @@
 
   <ItemGroup>
     <Compile Remove="InferenceTest.cs" />
+    <Compile Remove="OrtEnvTests.cs" />
     <Compile Remove="OrtIoBindingAllocationTest.cs" />
     <Compile Remove="Tensors\TensorTests.cs" />
     <Compile Remove="TrainingTest.cs" />
@@ -75,9 +78,9 @@
 
   <ItemGroup>
     <!-- include common files for visibility, however they're compiled directly by the target specific test projects -->
-    <None Include="InferenceTest.cs"/>
-    <None Include="OrtEnvTests.cs"/>
-    <None Include="OnnxData.cs"/>
+    <None Include="InferenceTest.cs" />
+    <None Include="OrtEnvTests.cs" />
+    <None Include="OnnxData.cs" />
     <None Include="OrtIoBindingAllocationTest.cs" Condition=" '$(EnableDefaultCompileItems)' == 'true' " />
     <None Include="Tensors\TensorTests.cs" Condition=" '$(EnableDefaultCompileItems)' == 'true' " />
     <None Include="Tensors\ArrayTensorExtensionTests.cs" Condition=" '$(EnableDefaultCompileItems)' == 'true' " />
@@ -92,9 +95,27 @@
       <Generator>TextTemplatingFileGenerator</Generator>
       <LastGenOutput>TensorOperations.cs</LastGenOutput>
     </None>
-  </ItemGroup> 
+  </ItemGroup>
 
   <ItemGroup>
+    <None Condition="'$(IsWindowsBuild)'=='true'" Include="$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\onnxruntime.dll;$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\onnxruntime.pdb">
+      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
+      <Visible>false</Visible>
+    </None>
+
+    <None Condition="'$(IsLinuxBuild)'=='true'" Include="$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libonnxruntime.so">
+      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
+      <Visible>false</Visible>
+    </None>
+
+    <None Condition="'$(IsMacOSBuild)'=='true'" Include="$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libonnxruntime.dylib">
+      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
+      <Visible>false</Visible>
+    </None>
+  </ItemGroup>
+
+  <ItemGroup>
+    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk" Version="17.5.0" />
     <PackageReference Include="Google.Protobuf" Version="3.16.0" />
     <PackageReference Include="Newtonsoft.Json" Version="13.0.2" />
     <PackageReference Include="xunit" Version="2.4.1" />
@@ -106,11 +127,11 @@
 
   <!-- generate OnnxMl.cs from ONNX protobuf definition -->
   <Target Name="ProtoGen" BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild" Condition="Exists('$(ProtocExe)')">
-    <Exec Command="$(ProtocExe) -I=$(ProtoSrc) --csharp_out=. $(ProtoSrc)\onnx-ml.proto3" ContinueOnError="false"></Exec>
+    <Exec Command="$(ProtocExe) -I=$(ProtoSrc) --csharp_out=. $(ProtoSrc)\onnx\onnx-ml.proto3" ContinueOnError="false"></Exec>
   </Target>
 
   <Target Name="ProtoDataGen" BeforeTargets="BeforeBuild" Condition="Exists('$(ProtocExe)')">
-    <Exec Command="$(ProtocExe) -I=$(ProtoSrc) --csharp_out=. $(ProtoSrc)\onnx-data.proto3" ContinueOnError="false"></Exec>
+    <Exec Command="$(ProtocExe) -I=$(ProtoSrc) --csharp_out=. $(ProtoSrc)\onnx\onnx-data.proto3" ContinueOnError="false"></Exec>
   </Target>
 
   <ItemGroup>
@@ -137,4 +158,4 @@
     <Service Include="{508349b6-6b84-4df5-91f0-309beebad82d}" />
   </ItemGroup>
 
-</Project>
\ No newline at end of file
+</Project>
diff --git a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/OrtEnvTests.cs b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/OrtEnvTests.cs
index 63ddf51116..83d32fa54b 100644
--- a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/OrtEnvTests.cs
+++ b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/OrtEnvTests.cs
@@ -148,7 +148,6 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests
     [Collection("Ort Inference Tests")]
     public class OrtEnvWithCustomLogger : CustomLoggingFunctionTestBase
     {
-
         [Fact(DisplayName = "TesEnvWithCustomLogger")]
         public void TesEnvWithCustomLogger()
         {
@@ -172,7 +171,8 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests
             // Trigger some logging
             // Empty stmt intentional
             using (var session = new InferenceSession(model))
-                ;
+            { }
+
             Assert.True(LoggingInvokes > 0);
         }
     }
@@ -205,8 +205,9 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests
                 var model = TestDataLoader.LoadModelFromEmbeddedResource("squeezenet.onnx");
                 // Trigger some logging
                 // Empty stmt intentional
-                using (var session = new InferenceSession(model)) 
-                    ;
+                using (var session = new InferenceSession(model))
+                { }
+
                 Assert.True(LoggingInvokes > 0);
             }
         }
diff --git a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Tensors/NativeMemory.cs b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Tensors/NativeMemory.cs
index 019c3d58cd..d014dc0766 100644
--- a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Tensors/NativeMemory.cs
+++ b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Tensors/NativeMemory.cs
@@ -38,10 +38,14 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tensors.Tests
             this.length = length;
         }
 
+        // A finalizer to allow debugging in test code is allowable.
+        // https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/fundamentals/code-analysis/quality-rules/ca2015
+#pragma warning disable CA2015
         ~NativeMemory()
         {
             Dispose(false);
         }
+#pragma warning restore CA2015
 
         public static NativeMemory<T> Allocate(int length)
         {
diff --git a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Tensors/TensorTests.cs b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Tensors/TensorTests.cs
index 7816babf48..4088663ea7 100644
--- a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Tensors/TensorTests.cs
+++ b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/Tensors/TensorTests.cs
@@ -159,7 +159,12 @@ namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tensors.Tests
             Assert.Equal(24, tensor.Length);
             Assert.Equal(tensorConstructor.IsReversedStride, tensor.IsReversedStride);
 
-            Assert.Throws<ArgumentNullException>("dimensions", () => tensorConstructor.CreateFromDimensions<int>(dimensions: null));
+            // The null is converted to a 'null' ReadOnlySpan<T> which is a valid instance with length zero.
+            // https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.readonlyspan-1.-ctor?view=netstandard-2.1#system-readonlyspan-1-ctor(-0())
+            // Such a span is valid as dimensions as it represents a scalar. 
+            // If we need to differentiate between the two we'd need to change the Tensor ctor to accept a
+            // nullable span in order to tell the user that's invalid. 
+            // Assert.Throws<ArgumentNullException>("dimensions", () => tensorConstructor.CreateFromDimensions<int>(dimensions: null));
             Assert.Throws<ArgumentOutOfRangeException>("dimensions", () => tensorConstructor.CreateFromDimensions<int>(dimensions: new[] { 1, -1 }));
 
             // ensure dimensions are immutable
diff --git a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/TestDataLoader.cs b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/TestDataLoader.cs
index 42a780b328..08d3d9d6f2 100644
--- a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/TestDataLoader.cs
+++ b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Common/TestDataLoader.cs
@@ -1,12 +1,8 @@
 using System;
 using System.Collections.Generic;
-using System.Diagnostics;
 using System.IO;
 using System.Linq;
-using System.Net.NetworkInformation;
-using Google.Protobuf;
 using Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tensors;
-using Xunit;
 
 namespace Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests
 {
diff --git a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Droid/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Droid.csproj b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Droid/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Droid.csproj
index 78cfc5ca80..020a4745e2 100644
--- a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Droid/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Droid.csproj
+++ b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Droid/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.Droid.csproj
@@ -173,4 +173,4 @@
     <Target Name="AfterBuild">
     </Target>
   -->
-</Project>
+</Project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.NetCoreApp/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.NetCoreApp.csproj b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.NetCoreApp/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.NetCoreApp.csproj
index 4f99be4882..38cea3f23a 100644
--- a/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.NetCoreApp/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.NetCoreApp.csproj
+++ b/csharp/test/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.NetCoreApp/Microsoft.ML.OnnxRuntime.Tests.NetCoreApp.csproj
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
 
   <PropertyGroup>
-    <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.1</TargetFramework>
+    <TargetFramework>net6.0</TargetFramework>
     <IsPackable>false</IsPackable>
     <OnnxRuntimeCsharpRoot>$(ProjectDir)..\..</OnnxRuntimeCsharpRoot>
     <Platforms>AnyCPU;x86</Platforms>
@@ -53,13 +53,39 @@
 
   <ItemGroup>
     <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NETCore.Targets" Version="5.0.0" />
-    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk" Version="16.11.0" />
+    <PackageReference Include="Microsoft.NET.Test.Sdk" Version="17.5.0" />
     <PackageReference Include="xunit" Version="2.4.1" />
     <PackageReference Include="xunit.runner.visualstudio" Version="2.4.3" />
   </ItemGroup>
 
+  <!--
+    Copy the required libraries for testing to the output directory.
+    NOTE: We use a wildcard for custom_op_library even though that isn't necessary, so it doesn't fail
+          if the custom op library isn't present, which it may not be depending on the ORT build settings.
+  -->
   <ItemGroup>
-    <None Include="$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\*.dll;$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\*.pdb;$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\*.dylib;$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libcustom*.so;$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libcustom*.dylib">
+    <None Condition="'$(IsWindowsBuild)'=='true'"
+          Include="$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\onnxruntime.dll;
+                   $(NativeBuildOutputDir)\onnxruntime.pdb;
+                   $(NativeBuildOutputDir)\onnxruntime_providers_*.dll;
+                   $(NativeBuildOutputDir)\onnxruntime_providers_*.pdb;
+                   $(NativeBuildOutputDir)\custom_op_library*.dll">
+      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
+      <Visible>false</Visible>
+    </None>
+
+    <None Condition="'$(IsLinuxBuild)'=='true'"
+          Include="$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libonnxruntime.so;
+                   $(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libonnxruntime_providers_*.so;
+                   $(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libcustom_op_library*.so">
+      <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
+      <Visible>false</Visible>
+    </None>
+
+    <None Condition="'$(IsMacOSBuild)'=='true'"
+          Include="$(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libonnxruntime.dylib;
+                   $(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libonnxruntime_providers_*.dylib;
+                   $(NativeBuildOutputDir)\libcustom_op_library*.dylib">
       <CopyToOutputDirectory>PreserveNewest</CopyToOutputDirectory>
       <Visible>false</Visible>
     </None>
diff --git a/tools/ci_build/github/azure-pipelines/linux-ci-pipeline.yml b/tools/ci_build/github/azure-pipelines/linux-ci-pipeline.yml
index 1ea19e5734..d372699aa5 100644
--- a/tools/ci_build/github/azure-pipelines/linux-ci-pipeline.yml
+++ b/tools/ci_build/github/azure-pipelines/linux-ci-pipeline.yml
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ stages:
                         --build_shared_lib \
                         --parallel \
                         --build_wheel \
+                        --build_csharp \
                         --enable_onnx_tests \
                         --enable_transformers_tool_test \
                         --use_cache \
@@ -86,6 +87,44 @@ stages:
                       ccache -z"
                 workingDirectory: $(Build.SourcesDirectory)
 
+      - task: UseDotNet@2
+        displayName: "Setup dotnet"
+        inputs:
+          version: '6.0.408'
+
+      - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
+        displayName: "Restore C# packages"
+        inputs:
+          command: 'restore'
+          projects: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/csharp/OnnxRuntime.DesktopOnly.CSharp.sln'
+
+      # the props file was generated with docker container paths. convert to the 'real' path by replacing the
+      # the container path of '/build'. The '>' prefix is to match the closing angle bracket of the tag.
+      # e.g. <OnnxRuntimeBuildDirectory>/build/... so we only match the start of a path.
+      # We use powershell so we don't need extra escaping of the '/' chars in the path.
+      - task: CmdLine@2
+        displayName: 'Update props from docker path to local and create models link'
+        inputs:
+          script: |
+             pwsh -Command '(Get-Content $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/csharp/Directory.Build.props) -replace ">/build", ">$(Build.BinariesDirectory)" | Set-Content $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/csharp/Directory.Build.props'
+             cat $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/csharp/Directory.Build.props
+             ln -s /data/models $(Build.BinariesDirectory)/models
+
+      - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
+        displayName: 'dotnet build C# sln'
+        inputs:
+          command: 'build'
+          projects: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/csharp/OnnxRuntime.DesktopOnly.CSharp.sln'
+
+      - task: DotNetCoreCLI@2
+        displayName: 'dotnet test C#'
+        inputs:
+          command: 'test'
+          projects: '$(Build.SourcesDirectory)/csharp/OnnxRuntime.DesktopOnly.CSharp.sln'
+          # extra logging so all tests are listed in output to validate what's actually run
+          arguments: '-f net6.0 --no-build -l "console;verbosity=normal"'
+          workingDirectory: $(Build.SourcesDirectory)/csharp
+
       - task: CmdLine@2
         displayName: 'Install python deps and run java tests'
         inputs: