Seems that 4.5.2 isn't supported yet. According to this Microsoft blog they hope to add this version soon.
Azure SDK 2.6 only allows you to build the .NET 4.5.2 package. You still need to add a startup script and manually install the framework.
See for now: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/cloud-services-dotnet-install-dotnet/
UPDATE APRIL 2015
Use Azure 2.6 SDK (3)
With Azure SDK 2.6 you can develop cloud service applications (PaaS) targeting .NET 4.5.2 or .NET 4.6 provided that you manually install the target .NET Framework on the Cloud Service Role. See Install .NET on a Cloud Service Role.
UPDATE NOV 2014
They did not add support in SDK 2.5.
Using Azure SDK version 2.5 you can develop IaaS applications targeting .NET Framework 4.5.2 or .NET Framework 4.5.3, provided that you install the target .NET Framework on the Azure virtual machines that run them. .NET Framework 4.5.1 is the most recent supported target framework for PaaS applications developed using this version of the SDK (2)
This was supposed to be released today with 2.5 SDK (1)
At currently, we couldn't create and deploy azure cloud service using .net 4.5.2, this will be supported when azure sdk 2.5 released.
However it still fails to package even with 2.5 installed.
(2) http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn873976.aspx
(3) http://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/documentation/articles/azure-sdk-dotnet-release-notes-2_6/
Apparently the place to keep an eye on this is via the Guest OS releases. .NET 4.5.2 will not be supported until a version of the Guest OS is released that supports it.
http://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/cloud-services-guestos-update-matrix/
See the Guest OS Versions table. Current latest is:
FAMILY 4
Windows Server 2012 R2
Supports .NET 4.0, 4.5, 4.5.1
Folks, apologies for the delayed response on this topic.
Currently, Cloud Services doesn't officially support .NET 4.5.2. We are currently evaluating supporting .NET 4.5.2 on the existing Guest OS family 4. I will keep you posted when I find out more.
In the meanwhile, if you are interested in using .NET 4.5.2, one option is to download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=42642 and install it via startup tasks.
The November Guest OS release is targeted to support 4.5.2 out of the box, so no need to use start up task.
I believe you also need to upgrade to 2.6 sdk to be able to use 4.5.2.
http://sxp.microsoft.com/feeds/3.0/msdntn/WindowsAzureOSUpdates
On August 7, 2014, Microsoft announced that support will end for .NET Framework 4, 4.5, and 4.5.1 on January 12, 2016. To ensure that your cloud services continue to be secure and protected, Azure will update the .NET Framework in Windows Azure Guest operating system (Guest OS) family 2.x, 3.x and 4.x to .NET Framework 4.5.2 in November Guest OS Release. Cloud services running on Guest OS family 2.x, 3.x and 4.x with automatic updates enabled will be updated to the November Guest OS with .NET Framework 4.5.2. If you have concerns of possible application compatibility issues of the .NET update, we would suggest you to validate your cloud service with .NET 4.5.2 before November Patch Tuesday, Nov 10, 2015.
Update: something went wrong and Microsoft pushed this back to the January OS Family now.
