HRESULT: 0x80131040: The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference

Asked 18/9, 2008 at 15:58 Answered 10/7, 2023 at 14:39

The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference

getting this when running nunit through ncover. Any idea?

Beachhead answered 18/9, 2008 at 15:58 Comment(3)

You might want to resturcture the title and the question a bit to attract more eyeballs. Something like "I am trying to do X and i am getting this error: {error description} ... etc etc – Mistranslate 18/9, 2008 at 16:1

It's fine, I could find this question by the error code. – Simpatico 29/4, 2015 at 14:21

An old thread, but a common problem. Cause for me was that for some reason I had 2 instances of Visual Studio running the same solution. The other one wasn't visible on taskbar, but only on Task Manager. Closed both, then a clean and rebuild worked. – Erythrocytometer 24/9, 2015 at 8:25

This is a mismatch between assemblies: a DLL referenced from an assembly doesn't have a method signature that's expected.

Clean the solution, rebuild everything, and try again.

Also, be careful if this is a reference to something that's in the GAC; it could be that something somewhere is pointing to an incorrect version. Make sure (through the Properties of each reference) that the correct version is chosen or that Specific Version is set false.

Christ answered 18/9, 2008 at 19:17 Comment(1)

is there a way to force the compiler to check this sort of thing at compile time? I could swear this was the default in VS2005. – Professionalize 25/6, 2009 at 16:57

I recently had this issue and I ran 'depends.exe' on the dll in question. It showed me that the dll was compiled in x86 while some of the dependencys were compiled in x64.

If you are still having troubles I would recommend using depends.exe.

Feculent answered 10/9, 2009 at 17:40 Comment(2)

There's also Depends.Net, netomatix.com/development/DependsNet.aspx My problem was banal, module1 wanted to load module2 version 5.0.0.0, and module2 was actually 5.0.8.3760. Depends didn't flag this, and Depends.Net did. – Vexation 25/4, 2011 at 0:37

link broken to DependNet, github.com/isindicic/DependencyWalker.Net/releases i decompiled the exe and examined the source, not dodgy, and has a nice UI. – Falls 15/5, 2020 at 3:3

In my case for a wcf rest services project I had to add a runtime section to the web.config where there the requested dll was:

  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="DotNetOpenAuth.Core" publicKeyToken="2780ccd10d57b246" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.1.0.0" newVersion="4.1.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
.
.
.
  <runtime>

Annamarieannamese answered 8/10, 2013 at 6:3 Comment(1)

saved my day, thanks, deleted the run time assemblies worked for me. – Christcrossrow 24/11, 2022 at 9:41

Just delete the bin folder and then then the project recreates all again and it will be working now .

Yean answered 8/6, 2018 at 8:26 Comment(0)

My problems solved by remove all the runtime part

<runtime>
        <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
            <dependentAssembly>
                <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Helpers" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
                <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0"/>
            </dependentAssembly>
            <dependentAssembly>
                <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
                <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0"/>
            </dependentAssembly>
        </assemblyBinding>
    </runtime>

Kiethkiev answered 30/8, 2015 at 5:48 Comment(1)

This worked for me. Had issue with automapper. Exception: Could not load file or assembly 'AutoMapper, Version=4.2.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=be96cd2c38ef1005' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040) – Pentecostal 30/6, 2020 at 19:25

This usually happens when the version of one of the DLLs of the testing environment does not match the development environment.

Clean and Build your solution and take all your DLLs to the environment where the error is happening that should fix it

Phenomenon answered 30/7, 2013 at 15:53 Comment(0)

In my case I got this message while debugging:

"Error while calling service <ServiceName> Could not load file or assembly 'RestSharp, 
Version=105.2.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. 
The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference.
(Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)"

Cause

In my project I have had 2 internal components using the RestSharp but both component have different version of RestSharp (one with version 105.2.3.0 and the other with version 106.2.1.0).

Solution

Either upgrade one of the components to newer or downgrade the other. In my case it was safer for me to downgrade from 106.2.1.0 to 105.2.3.0 and than update the component in NuGet package manager. So both components has the same version.

Rebuild and it worked with out problems.

Witten answered 2/2, 2018 at 13:19 Comment(0)

I ran into similar problems when accessing the project files from different computers via a shared folder. In my case clean + reabuild did not help. Had to delete the bin and objects folders from the output directory.

Phaeton answered 6/11, 2013 at 18:17 Comment(0)

pretty late, but I want to share our solution to this problem (this problem still exists in 2023). We are using Visual Studio 2022.

Again, this is the error we were getting:

System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly '[ASSEMBLYNAME], Version=x.x.x.x, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=xxxxxx' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

The problem is called DLL Hell and takes a very long time to solve. I hope my answer can shorten your time on it.

DLL Hell refers to a situation where there are conflicts or compatibility issues with dynamic-link libraries (DLLs). DLLs are files containing code and resources that can be used by multiple programs simultaneously, allowing for code reuse and modular programming.

DLL Hell typically arises when different versions of the same DLL are required by different applications or components on a system. The problem occurs when one application installs a newer version of a DLL that is incompatible with another application that relies on an older version. This can result in unpredictable behavior, crashes, or errors in the affected applications.

To mitigate DLL Hell, the .NET framework introduced a concept called "side-by-side assembly" (SxS). SxS allows multiple versions of DLLs to be installed and run simultaneously without conflicts. Each application can specify the version of the DLL it depends on, and the .NET runtime will load the appropriate version accordingly.

The HRESULT: 0x80131040 exception is commonly associated with missing dependencies or issues with loading assemblies in .NET applications. It often occurs when the runtime is unable to locate a required DLL or when there are conflicts between different versions of assemblies.

We encountered a situation where multiple .NET frameworks were being used, each relying on different NuGet packages. To address the issue, we attempted to install the same version of the packages across all projects. However, despite our efforts, the error persisted. Surprisingly, when we created a new project within the solution and implemented a method(...), it worked flawlessly. This led us to question why the same approach didn't work for our test project.

Upon further investigation, we discovered the existence of something called bindingRedirect. To resolve the problem, we needed to add a configuration snippet like the following to the app.config/.csproj file:

<dependentAssembly>
   <assemblyIdentity name="System.Net.Http.Formatting" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
   <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-5.2.7.0" newVersion="5.2.7.0" />
</dependentAssembly>

However, with a multitude of packages in our solution, manually adding each bindingRedirect would have been an arduous task taking days to complete. Fortunately, Visual Studio offers an option that automates this process, saving us significant time and effort.

To automatically generate binding redirects for your project, follow these steps:

Right-click on your project and select "Properties."
In the properties window, navigate to the "Application" tab.
Look for the checkbox labeled "Auto-generate binding redirects" and enable it.

By enabling this option, the binding redirects will be generated automatically for you. After building the project, the generated bindingRedirects will be included in a file named bin\debug\projectname.dll.config.

Once you open this file, you will find numerous binding redirects. This provides a convenient overview of all the redirects generated for your project.

However, it's important to note that if your test project is a class library, the "Auto-generate binding redirects" checkbox won't work as expected.

In such cases, you need to manually add the following tag beneath the <AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>true</AutoGenerateBindingRedirects> line into you .csproj:

<GenerateBindingRedirectsOutputType>true</GenerateBindingRedirectsOutputType>

By including this tag, the binding redirects will be properly generated for your class library project as well.

Sources that may help:

Zoniazoning answered 10/7, 2023 at 14:39 Comment(0)

In my particular situation, I got this as a result of a CreateObject done in VBScript. The cause in my case was a version of the assembly that resided in the GAC, that was older than the one I had compiled. (trying to solve an earlier problem, I installed the assembly in the GAC).

So, if you're working with COM visible classes, then be sure you remove older versions of your assembly from the GAC, before registering your new assembly with RegASM.

Breastfeed answered 4/12, 2011 at 12:51 Comment(0)

In my case it was happening because of WebGrease. I updated it to the latest version (using NuGet) but it was conflicted with the dependencies. I manually added the below code in web.config and it worked as a charm.

<dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity name="WebGrease" culture="neutral" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-1.6.5135.21930" newVersion="1.6.5135.21930" />
</dependentAssembly>

Please note my solution will only work when the error is related to WebGrease. The error code will remain the same. Also, you need to change the version in oldVersion and newVersion accordingly.

Vestpocket answered 9/12, 2014 at 11:48 Comment(0)

I ran into this issue in a web api project.

Api project was using a nuget package of a library with version 3. And one of the referenced assemblies say X was using older version of the same nuget package with version 2.

Whenever referenced assembly is built or any other project referencing X is rebuilt, api project's assemblies gets updated with lower version. And got this assembly reference error.

Rebuild works but in my case I wanted a long term solution.

I made the assemblies reference same version of nuget package.

Stamata answered 13/1, 2015 at 23:43 Comment(0)

I had the issue where it wouldn't find the PayPal assembly and it was because I had named my solution PayPal. I'm sure this won't be the answer for anyone but thought I'd share it anyway: C# ASP.NET MVC PayPal not finding assembly

Beware answered 2/3, 2016 at 12:24 Comment(0)

My WPF project referenced 3 custom dlls. I updated one of them, deleted the reference and added the reference to the new dll. It also showed the correct version number in the properties of the reference. It was rebuilding without an error.

But when the application was running, the failure "The located assembly's manifest .." occured, mentioning the old version.

After searching for a solution for hours and reading couple of threads like this, I remembered the other dlls. One of the other dlls was referencing the old version, and that's why the failure occured. After rebuilding the 2nd dll and recreating both references in my WPF project, the failure was gone.

Don't forget to check your other dlls!

Lummox answered 1/12, 2020 at 15:4 Comment(0)

If you got this error trying to add a component to Visual Studio,- Microsoft.VisualStudio.TemplateWizardInterface - (after trying to install weird development tools)

consider this solution(courtesy of larocha (thanks, whoever you are)):

Open C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe.config in a text editor
Find this string: "Microsoft.VisualStudio.TemplateWizardInterface"
Comment out the element so it looks like this:

<dependentAssembly>  <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-8.9.9.9" newVersion="9.0.0.0" /> </dependentAssembly>

source: http://webclientguidance.codeplex.com/workitem/15444

Sarnoff answered 16/1, 2013 at 13:36 Comment(0)

Just another case here. I had this error from Managed Debugging Assistant on the first time deserializing a XML file into objects under VS2010/.NET 4. A DLL containing classes for the objects is generated in a post-build event (usual Microsoft style stuff). Worked very well for several projects in same solution, problem appeared when doing that in one more of the projects. Error text:

BindingFailure was detected Message: The assembly with display name MyProjectName.XmlSerializers' failed to load in the 'LoadFrom' binding context of the AppDomain with ID 1. The cause of the failure was: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly MyProjectName.XmlSerializers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

Since some answers here suggested a platform mismatch, I noticed that 3 projects and the solution had "mixed platforms" configuration selected, and 3 projects were compiled for x86 instead of AnyCPU. I have no platform-specific code (though some vendor-provided DLLs rely on a few x86 libraries). I replaced all occurrences of x86 into AnyCPU with this:

for a in $( egrep '(x86|AnyCPU)' */*.csproj *.sln -l  ) ; do echo $a ; sed -i 's/x86/AnyCPU/' $a ; done

Then the project would build but all options to run or debug code would be greyed out. Restarting VS would not help.

I reverted with git the references to the x86-library, just in case, but kept AnyCPU for all the code I compile.

Following F5 or Start Debugging Button is Greyed Out for Winform application? I unloaded and reloaded the starting project (it was also the one where the initial problem appeared in the first place).

After that, everything fell back into place: the program works without the initial error.

See http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/R/rain-dance.html , http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/V/voodoo-programming.html or http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/I/incantation.html and links there.

Albescent answered 29/1, 2015 at 10:46 Comment(0)

I just delete settings.lic file from project and start working!

Diligence answered 10/3, 2017 at 10:39 Comment(0)

This happened to me when I updated web.config without updating all referenced dlls.

Using proper diff filter (beware of Meld's default directory compare filter ignoring binaries) the difference was identified, files were copied and everything worked fine.

Camp answered 18/2, 2018 at 0:12 Comment(0)

Just Check your webconfig file and remove this code :-

<dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity name="itextsharp" publicKeyToken="8354ae6d2174ddca" culture="neutral" />
    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-5.5.13.0" newVersion="5.5.13.0" />
  </dependentAssembly>

Lulalulea answered 3/5, 2018 at 9:42 Comment(0)

I got this error when working in the Designer. I had been developing in VS 2012, but "upgraded" to 2017 over the past couple days. Solution was to close and reopen VS.

It may be related to a bug which I've seen reported elsewhere, where the Reference Manager does not work? In that situation, the following error message is encountered when trying to add a reference in the Solution Explorer:

"Error HRESULT E_FAIL has been returned from a call to a COM component."

My workaround was to close the solution, reopen in VS2012, add the reference, close 2012 and reopen 2017. Ridiculous that 2017 should have been released with such an obvious bug.

Gui answered 12/9, 2018 at 14:42 Comment(0)

I tested All the solutions above but didn't work out for me, after consideration all situations found out the problem is somewhere else, it was so awkward.
I have two different branches for the same project on different folders, the problem was from the other branch.
I updated nuget packages (for the mentioned package on error page) on both branches and the problem solved!

Rouault answered 25/11, 2021 at 6:55 Comment(0)

For me the problem was in the app file version, it was 3.3.1 and i was building the new one as 20.0.1, when reset the version back to the same value it worked fine.

Estey answered 25/1, 2022 at 17:52 Comment(1)

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