IIS skip assembly binding - iis

Question

I have a problem starting a Web Application of mine, which runs under IIS 8.
The 'yellow screen of death' states this:
Could not load file or assembly 'RegexAssemblyBuilder, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b40604c47d15475b' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'RegexAssemblyBuilder, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b40604c47d15475b' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
Source Error:
An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly 'RegexAssemblyBuilder, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b40604c47d15475b' could not be loaded.
=== Pre-bind state information ===
LOG: User = IIS APPPOOL\XYZweb
LOG: DisplayName = RegexAssemblyBuilder, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b40604c47d15475b
(Fully-specified)
LOG: Appbase = file:///C:/Code/Application/XYZ 4-Web/ABC.XYZ.Web/
LOG: Initial PrivatePath = C:\Code\Application\XYZ 4-Web\ABC.XYZ.Web\bin
Calling assembly : ABC.RegularExpressions, Version=3.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=f59eabe05cc67589.
===
LOG: This bind starts in default load context.
LOG: Using application configuration file: C:\Code\Application\XYZ 4-Web\ABC.XYZ.Web\web.config
LOG: Using host configuration file: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet.config
LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\config\machine.config.
LOG: Post-policy reference: RegexAssemblyBuilder, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b40604c47d15475b
LOG: The same bind was seen before, and was failed with hr = 0x80070002.
Stack Trace:
[FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'RegexAssemblyBuilder, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b40604c47d15475b' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.]
System.ModuleHandle.ResolveType(RuntimeModule module, Int32 typeToken, IntPtr* typeInstArgs, Int32 typeInstCount, IntPtr* methodInstArgs, Int32 methodInstCount, ObjectHandleOnStack type) +0
System.ModuleHandle.ResolveTypeHandleInternal(RuntimeModule module, Int32 typeToken, RuntimeTypeHandle[] typeInstantiationContext, RuntimeTypeHandle[] methodInstantiationContext) +371
System.ModuleHandle.ResolveTypeHandle(Int32 typeToken, RuntimeTypeHandle[] typeInstantiationContext, RuntimeTypeHandle[] methodInstantiationContext) +19
System.Reflection.RuntimeModule.ResolveType(Int32 metadataToken, Type[] genericTypeArguments, Type[] genericMethodArguments) +319
System.Reflection.CustomAttribute.FilterCustomAttributeRecord(CustomAttributeRecord caRecord, MetadataImport scope, Assembly& lastAptcaOkAssembly, RuntimeModule decoratedModule, MetadataToken decoratedToken, RuntimeType attributeFilterType, Boolean mustBeInheritable, Object[] attributes, IList derivedAttributes, RuntimeType& attributeType, IRuntimeMethodInfo& ctor, Boolean& ctorHasParameters, Boolean& isVarArg) +203
System.Reflection.CustomAttribute.GetCustomAttributes(RuntimeModule decoratedModule, Int32 decoratedMetadataToken, Int32 pcaCount, RuntimeType attributeFilterType, Boolean mustBeInheritable, IList derivedAttributes, Boolean isDecoratedTargetSecurityTransparent) +1179
System.Reflection.CustomAttribute.GetCustomAttributes(RuntimeAssembly assembly, RuntimeType caType) +146
WebActivator.AssemblyExtensions.GetActivationAttributes(Assembly assembly) +114
WebActivator.ActivationManager.RunActivationMethods() +286
WebActivator.ActivationManager.RunPreStartMethods() +38
WebActivator.ActivationManager.Run() +56
[InvalidOperationException: The pre-application start initialization method Run on type WebActivator.ActivationManager threw an exception with the following error message: Could not load file or assembly 'RegexAssemblyBuilder, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b40604c47d15475b' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified..]
System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.InvokePreStartInitMethodsCore(ICollection`1 methods, Func`1 setHostingEnvironmentCultures) [phone]
System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.InvokePreStartInitMethods(ICollection`1 methods) [phone]
System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(String preStartInitListPath) +240
System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart() +152
System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException) +1151
[HttpException (0x80004005): The pre-application start initialization method Run on type WebActivator.ActivationManager threw an exception with the following error message: Could not load file or assembly 'RegexAssemblyBuilder, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b40604c47d15475b' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified..]
System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) [phone]
System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +159
System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) [phone]
Now, I do have this RegexAssemblyBuilder.exe file in my solution and if I paste it into the bin folder and refresh the page everything works. It is also very likely that there is some issue about the calling assembly which looks for this file, and I have already informed my colleagues about that (I didn't develop it...). In the meantime, to make it work, and for future knowledge, I would like to know if there is the chance to tell IIS not to resolve this binding (which by the way I never use). I can't remove the calling .dll though.
Thank you

Answer 1

You could just set the Build Action to Content and then set Copy To Output Directory to Copy Always to have this assembly added to the bin directly at all tiimes. Otherwise, you could remove the reference to the executable from the project properties, or check to make sure that there is no mention of it in the web.config file. There is no method to prevent IIS from binding to an assembly when it is referenced inside a project. IIS builds up all the referenced assemblies when it does its initial compilation on the first request of the application.