FileNotFound attempting to load v14.0.0.0 of “Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.PageInspector.Runtime”

Question

I have an MVC project thats been working perfectly until I updated my machine a week ago. I now receive a Binding Error when trying to run the project

Managed Debuggin

Answer 1

i've observed this happening on a machine with Visual Studio 2013 installed.

it began happening, as best I can tell, after the VS2013 update 4.

(it may have occurred previously, but this is new for my environment)

I located this assembly in the GAC (two versions, one for VS2012, the other for VS2013) but these versions are strong named (obviously) with a version of "12.3.0.0" (take note the above resolution error is for a version "14" assembly.)

Here is the call stack for the first instance of this particular exception:

mscorlib.dll!System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.nLoad(System.Reflection.AssemblyName fileName, string codeBase, System.Security.Policy.Evidence assemblySecurity, System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly locationHint, ref System.Threading.StackCrawlMark stackMark, System.IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, bool throwOnFileNotFound, bool forIntrospection, bool suppressSecurityChecks) + 0x23 bytes   
mscorlib.dll!System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(System.Reflection.AssemblyName assemblyRef, System.Security.Policy.Evidence assemblySecurity, System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, ref System.Threading.StackCrawlMark stackMark, System.IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, bool throwOnFileNotFound, bool forIntrospection, bool suppressSecurityChecks) + 0x99 bytes   
mscorlib.dll!System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(System.Reflection.AssemblyName assemblyRef) + 0x25 bytes   
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.PageInspector.Loader.dll!Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.PageInspector.Runtime.Loader.RuntimeLoader.GetRuntimeAssembly(out System.Reflection.Assembly runtime) + 0xdb bytes   
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.PageInspector.Loader.dll!Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.PageInspector.Runtime.Loader.RuntimeLoader.LoadRuntime() + 0x2a bytes    
Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.PageInspector.Loader.dll!Microsoft.VisualStudio.Web.PageInspector.Runtime.Loader.RuntimeLoader.PreApplicationStart() + 0x27 bytes    
[Native to Managed Transition]  
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.InvokePreStartInitMethodsCore(System.Collections.Generic.ICollection methods, System.Func setHostingEnvironmentCultures) + 0x142 bytes 
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.InvokePreStartInitMethods(System.Collections.Generic.ICollection methods) + 0x5a bytes 
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(string preStartInitListPath, out bool isRefAssemblyLoaded) + 0x67 bytes  
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart() + 0x9a bytes    
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(System.Web.Hosting.ApplicationManager appManager, System.Web.Hosting.IApplicationHost appHost, System.Web.Configuration.IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, System.Security.Policy.PolicyLevel policyLevel, System.Exception appDomainCreationException) + 0x20a bytes   
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(System.Web.Hosting.ApplicationManager appManager, System.Web.Hosting.IApplicationHost appHost, System.Web.Configuration.IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, System.Security.Policy.PolicyLevel policyLevel) + 0x16 bytes 
[Appdomain Transition]  
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Hosting.ApplicationManager.CreateAppDomainWithHostingEnvironment(string appId, System.Web.Hosting.IApplicationHost appHost, System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters) + 0x12f3 bytes 
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Hosting.ApplicationManager.CreateAppDomainWithHostingEnvironmentAndReportErrors(string appId, System.Web.Hosting.IApplicationHost appHost, System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters) + 0x25 bytes    
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Hosting.ApplicationManager.GetAppDomainWithHostingEnvironment(string appId, System.Web.Hosting.IApplicationHost appHost, System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters) + 0x6c bytes  
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Hosting.ApplicationManager.CreateObjectInternal(string appId, System.Type type, System.Web.Hosting.IApplicationHost appHost, bool failIfExists, System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters) + 0x4d bytes   
System.Web.dll!System.Web.Hosting.ProcessHost.StartApplication(string appId, string appPath, out object runtimeInterface) + 0x18f bytes 
[Native to Managed Transition]  

This suggests the problem is Microsoft's (and not something I've done in, say, an assembly, application nor machine config.)

I spot-checked all of my configs (literally, all, my project's web.config as well as all .NET runtime machine configs, all versions/platforms) and I could not find a reference to this assembly anywhere.

To work around this mistake (which Microsoft needs to address) I've added an assembly binding redirect, as follows, to my web.config (NOT my machine configs):

This suggests Microsoft released a build of Visual Studio, or similar, which is binding against a future, unreleased version of these assemblies.

Hope this helps someone else out there!