When I run unit testing to serialize to an xml file, I keep getting error message:
Could not load file or assembly
'Company.Fin.Bank.Common.XmlSerializers.dll, Version=1.0.0.0,
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. The
system cannot find the file specified.
I guess Company.Fin.Bank.Common.XmlSerializers.dll may be in cache somewhere but it is impossible to find this dll, even though i don't need that dll. I want to remove it. But where can i find it? is it possibly in a cache? if yes how can i clean the cache from VS? This problem is very new to me.
What a weird part is that i used another laptop (win 7) to run the unit testing, there is no error message i got - it worked. but when i used my own laptop (win 8) i keep getting error message. I have no idea why.
I hope to find solution from you. Your help means alot. Thanks!!!
That assembly is dynamically generated by the framework (XMLSerializer)
In .Net implementation, the XmlSerializer generates a temporary
assembly for serializing/deserializing your classes (for performance
reasons).
Also, this may be normal behavior - is it stopping your application from running?
even though i don't need that dll
Visual Studio will usually remove unneeded DLLs. Typically this is caused by dependencies (which are harder to keep track of).
I want to remove it.
Check in the References of the project in the Solution Explorer. If any of them have a yellow triangle that means they can't be found (the project may still compile and run if you aren't actually using that reference).
is it possibly in a cache?
As Daniel Kelley mentioned C:\Windows\assembly and C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly are where the global assembly cache is located. If it isn't there check the Hint Path of the reference (it will show up in Properties).
Good luck finding your reference, keep in mind that you need not only the actual DLL but all of its used references in most cases. Also a decompiler like DotPeek can be useful if you need a more discreet way of looking at references.
Related
I have a large solution, containing several projects, all with different dependencies and Nuget packages.
For one specific project, when running, I eventually get an exception "Could not load file or assembly 'System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions, Version=4.2.0.0, [...]"
This happens when referencing one of our types for the first time, which doesn't have an obvious dependency on this specific assembly, but it is part of a large project that probably has one.
The thing is, We do have System.Threading.Tasks.Extensions in the bin folder, it just appears to be a different version than the one that is expected by this code.
I have tried to consolidate versions and update this package and dependent ones, to no avail.
What I am looking for specifically, is how to figure out what project/file/etc is expecting the specific version, and why.
As far as I can tell, everything in the entire solution appears to expect the correct version, yet something obviously doesn't.
The answer may be a Visual Studio option, an external tool (I have access to Resharper and other Jetbrains software), or a Nuget tool that I am not aware of. Anything that allows me to pinpoint what or who is expecting this erroneous version, so that I can then fix it, will qualify as a valid answer.
Here is my scenario.
I have Few applications using ABCD.dll (written in C# .net), this old DLL was NOT strong name signed.
I modified this dll basically kept the same name ABCD.dll and signed it with the key. Please note there is no code change
I thought I should be able to just place this newly updated DLL into different applications folders and it should work. Am I wrong?
I am getting following error
BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly 'ABCD, Version=7.2.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. This assembly is built by a runtime newer than the currently loaded runtime and cannot be loaded.
How do I use this new dll without compiling all the old applications?
Am I wrong?
Yes, basically. Changing the signature on a DLL, including from "not having one" to "having one" is a breaking change - it changes the identity of the DLL as far as the CLR is concerned.
How do I use this new dll without compiling all the old applications?
You don't, as far as I'm aware. I don't know of any way of getting that to work. I suggest you take the hit and rebuild everything.
You can, if you're lucky 'just' change the reference to the new .DLL. There are tools for this.
You can try this one: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=markkemper1.ReferenceSwitcher
I'm developing a custom PowerShell snap-in, which references another project in the solution.
When I try to debug the snap-in (following [these instructions][1]), the assembly fails to load and my cmdlet fails with the message "Could not load file or Assembly..."
How do you instruct PowerShell on how to locate assemblies, or how do you specify where are located the assemblies needed by the snap-in?
I'd prefer to avoid registering the assemblies in the GAC, at least during development.
Not sure of the exact behaviour, but I would try and make use of fuslogvw to see exactly where the runtime is looking for the problematic assemblies. That would give you a clue as to how to get them to be copied into the correct place on build. This post by Scott Hanselman is quite useful, and this is the official documentation.
If you find the solution, please add an answer, as this must be a common scenario.
SOLUTION (Posting it here as suggested by one of the comments to my question)
My problem was rather specific, as I'm developing on a 64 bits server machine, but I'm posting the solution in case it could help someone else as well.
Using fuslogvw as suggested, I saw that the dependent assembly was being searched using the machine.config file under C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64 and then the binding failed; launching the project with "start without debugging", instead, the machine.config file under C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework was taken (notice the missing 64 at the end).
I thought that the problem could be due to the image format, and infact the dependent assembly was being compiled with x86 as CPU target; I changed it to "Any CPU" and now the assembly is loaded correctly.
We code in C# using VS2008 SP1. We have a server that runs Team System Server 2008 which we use for source control, tasks etc. The server is also our build machine for Team Build. This has been working just fine for a long time. Untill now. We get these error messages when trying to build one of our projects that has a reference to one external assembly (this happens both via Team Build, and when logging on physically and doing a regular build via Visual Studio):
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Microsoft.Common.targets
: warning MSB3246: Resolved file has a
bad image, no metadata, or is
otherwise inaccessible. Could not load
file or assembly 'C:\Program
Files\Syncfusion\Essential
Studio\7.1.0.21\Assemblies\3.5\Syncfusion.XlsIO.Base.dll'
or one of its dependencies. The module
was expected to contain an assembly
manifest.
C:\Program
Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\v9.0\ReportingServices\Microsoft.ReportingServices.targets(24,2):
error MSB4062: The
"Microsoft.Reporting.RdlCompile" task
could not be loaded from the assembly
Microsoft.ReportViewer.Common,
Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a. Could
not load file or assembly
'Microsoft.ReportViewer.Common,
Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or
one of its dependencies. The module
was expected to contain an assembly
manifest. Confirm that the
declaration is correct, and that the
assembly and all its dependencies are
available.
The referenced component
'Syncfusion.XlsIO.Base' could not be
found.
These errors are for one project with one problematic assembly reference. When I try to build the entire solution there are of course many more errors because of this one. And there are two other projects that has the same problem with other assembly references. I have a list of the referenced assemblies that VS can't seem to resolve:
Microsoft.ReportViewer.Common
Microsoft.ReportViewer.WinForms
Syncfusion.Compression.Base
Syncfusion.Core
Syncfusion.XlsIO.Base
The Syncfusion assemblies are from a 3rd-party component package. The other two are related to the Microsoft ReportViewer component.
The references has been added via the Add Reference window, in the .NET tab, so I don't think there is anything suspicious about that. In the properties window for the assembly reference, there is no value in Culture, Description, Path, Runtime Version or Strong Name. Version says 0.0.0.0 and Resolved is False. I guess it is pretty obvious that VS cant resolve the reference. My question is why??? I've scratched my head a lot over this one. This only occurs on the server, the solution builds just fine on both my machine, and my coworkers machine. The assembly reference properties are fine on our machines.
I have tried uninstalling the 3rd-party component (on the server of course), and then reinstalling it again. Didn't help. I tried to repair the VS2008 installation. Didn't help. Tried to retrieve an earlier version from source control (that I know has buildt on the server before), and I got the same error messages. I have checked file permissions, and everything appears to be in order. I am running out of ideas...
How do I solve this?
Update 16.02.2009:
I have tried to compare ildasm output of the dll on my pc and on the server (see the comment I wrote about that), and there is one small difference in a line that to me appears to be a comment. I must admit that I don't understand why there is a difference at all, so maybe someone could explain that to me?
I also tried running a virus scan on the server. Didn't help. Tried to remove the reference and then readd it by browsing to the dll on disk. Didn't work.
Update 17.03.2009:
I've found the solution! The culprit was the TruPrevent module of Panda Antivirus. After disabling the module, everything works! =)
I discovered this with the help of fuslogvw.exe and the log it generated. Googled the result, and stumbled upon this blog entry.. Hope this can help somebody else to.
Almost certainly the problem is environmental - not source related.
Some ideas ...
(i) Try disabling your anti-virus/anti-malware tools - I've seen cases where these tools (particularly Trend Micro Antivirus, for some reason) can keep a DLL file locked after (during?) scanning, interfering with compilers.
(ii) Check your PATH environment variable. Even in these modern days, the PATH variable is used to resolve some things - if this is messed up (too long, maximum length is 2048 characters IIRC) then things can be odd.
(iii) You've checked File permissions - have you checked permissions in the registry? For example, SyncFusion installs its license key in both the User and Machine hives - if the build server can't read one or the other, could cause issues.
Good luck!
It could also be that the referenced assemblies are in the GAC on the dev machine, but not on the build machine. Get it out of the GAC, into your source repository, and reference it by path.
We've had the same problem, turns out the C drive was full (only had 28MB).
Freeing space resolved the issue, even though the build happens on D.
Do you see any differences between ildasm of this file
'C:\Program Files\Syncfusion\Essential Studio\7.1.0.21\Assemblies\3.5\Syncfusion.XlsIO.Base.dll'
on your machine versus on the server?
My suspicion is that the user that the build process is under does not have access to the folder that your 3rd party control is in. Since this functions properly on your machines, it is almost certainly user/permission specific.
Your 3rd party dll may depend on unmanaged dlls. Often it's because a specific version of the VC++ Runtime Dlls are missing.
Open the Dll with the Dependency Walker http://www.dependencywalker.com/ on your server and check for missing references.
Not sure if this'll help in your case, but I did have something similar before where a dll apparently got unregistered somehow, and running regsvr32 on the dll did the trick.
Can anyone help me figure out what the problem is. I am trying to start up a C# winformsa app in visual studio and i keep getting this error:
Could not load file or assembly, Foo.dll version1.93343 or one of its dependencies
The system can't find the file specified
vs 2005, C# 2.0
any help
Typically it's about one of your references' reference, possibly deep down in the dependency tree. What I usually do is, fire up Sysinternals Process Monitor (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx), filter by process name, and run the app. It's typically fairly easy at this point to sift through the FILE NOT FOUNDs and locate the offending missing reference.
Fire up Fuslogvw.exe and inspect which assembly (or reference) can't be found.
This is the key part: "or one of its dependencies"
I've often found that the assembly dll file that can't be loaded looks fine. However one of its dependencies (another assembly dll) does not exist or has been moved.
When the CLR loads an assembly it will also check that all of that assemblies dependencies exist. In XCopy deployment this normally means you need all the dependency assemblies in the same directory as your application exe.
Try loading the winforms executable into Reflector and under "yourApp.exe" expand the References node to see what the other referenced types are.
You must have a reference to Foo.dll somewhere and it can't be located (duh). Do you see a reference in the solution window? You can right click that and select "properties" to look at the path.
Do you see an exclamation mark on a reference in visual studio's solution explorer ?
If so, then you need to remove it then add it again.
Worth checking your global web.config hasn't got a reference to that assembly