The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect

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Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembl y 'TheLibrary, Version=1.2.3905.36284, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=14 04827c3a8f2601' or one of its dependencies. The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more detail. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800736B1) File name: 'TheLibrary, Version=1.2.3905.36284, Culture=neutral, PublicKe yToken=1404827c3a8f2601' ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x800 736B1): The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configurati on is incorrect. Please see the application event log for more detail. (Exceptio n from HRESULT: 0x800736B1)

When I look at the event log, I get this error.

Activation context generation failed for "C:\project\Debug\MyLibrary.dll". Dependent Assembly Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8" could not be found. Please use sxstrace.exe for detailed diagnosis.

I used sxstrace to log the error and here is the result:

================= Begin Activation Context Generation. Input Parameter: Flags = 0 ProcessorArchitecture = x86 CultureFallBacks = en-US;en ManifestPath = C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe AssemblyDirectory = C:\Windows\system32\ Application Config File = ----------------- INFO: Parsing Manifest File C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe. INFO: Manifest Definition Identity is Microsoft.Windows.FileSystem.CMD,processorArchitecture="x86",type="win32",version="5.1.0.0". INFO: Activation Context generation succeeded. End Activation Context Generation.

================= Begin Activation Context Generation. Input Parameter: Flags = 0 ProcessorArchitecture = x86 CultureFallBacks = en-US;en ManifestPath = C:\Debug\TheLibrary.dll AssemblyDirectory = C:\Debug\ Application Config File = ----------------- INFO: Parsing Manifest File C:\Debug\TheLibrary.dll. INFO: Manifest Definition Identity is (null). INFO: Reference: Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8" INFO: Resolving reference Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8". INFO: Resolving reference for ProcessorArchitecture x86. INFO: Resolving reference for culture Neutral. INFO: Applying Binding Policy. INFO: No publisher policy found. INFO: No binding policy redirect found. INFO: Begin assembly probing. INFO: Did not find the assembly in WinSxS. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_32\Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT\9.0.21022.8__1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b\Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT.DLL. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Debug\Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT.DLL. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Debug\Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT.MANIFEST. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Debug\Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT\Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT.DLL. INFO: Attempt to probe manifest at C:\Debug\Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT\Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT.MANIFEST. INFO: Did not find manifest for culture Neutral. INFO: End assembly probing. ERROR: Cannot resolve reference Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT,processorArchitecture="x86",publicKeyToken="1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b",type="win32",version="9.0.21022.8". ERROR: Activation Context generation failed. End Activation Context Generation.

Cannot resolve reference Microsoft.VC90.DebugCRT,processorArchitecture=...

Any ideas?

dependencies configuration .net c#
11 Answers

We've just had this exact same error but the cause was so misleading compared to the error it's hopefully worth adding here as it comes top on google...

The "The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect" error was occurring when starting a windows service. In our instance this was caused by the services application.config xml file not being valid - someone had edited it manually and pasted in an extra closing tag. Amending this resolved the "not related in any way whatsoever" error message.

The quickest way to check this would be to paste the xml file into one of the many on-line xml validators free on the web.

user_7861030

In my case, I was working with a console application which is build in c# and I was using VS 2017. I tried to publish the code by right clicking on the project and select the publish option and then configure the required settings. it didn't published the exe on configured path but whenever I tried to compile or tried to build the application, I was getting this kind of error. I was googling that error message and I came across this question. This answer may seems irrelevant to the question but still I am posting my answer for the folks like me who got here because of facing problem like mine. So I found the salutation for my problem as below steps :

  1. Go to the project file, right click on it
  2. go to the properties options
  3. go to the signing option
  4. uncheck the checkbox named as 'Sign the ClickOnce manifests' its done. Now when I tried to build the console application again, it showed me a warning message, which I have ignored and it got build successfully, and working fine. I have shared whatever I had tried, trying to help here for people like me. Thanks
user_28632000

This is usually an error in App.config file.

Sometimes it happens that you just put an invalid tag or your XML is not of a valid format.

Try checking XML with some XML online validator.

Regarding the allowed tags, here you can find more:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/configure-apps/file-schema/

If something from your App.config file is not present in the documentation, then it’s probably supposed to be placed in another part of the configuration. For example, in the app.manifest file. You can even google about freshly added code, like some tag or attribute, and figure out the error by comparing how the code you have aligns with your search results. This is a common error to accidentally switch files or mistype a tag.

user_153306950
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