Visual Studio 2013 calls 32 bit aspnet_compiler instead of 64 bit one

Question

My solution contains some .net projects and one of them is a ASP.NET MVC project, which I'm trying to publish. All configurations are set correctly, x32 and x64, non of them is set to AnyCPU.

Problem:

If I try to publish the project as 32bit, everything is fine, but trying to publish in 64 bit mode fails with an error:

Could not load file or assembly "ProjectA" or one of its dependencies. 
An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.

What I've tried and noticed:

Since VS 2013, MSbuild is a part of VS and not of .NET Framework as before. If I simply build the solution in x64 mode, the 32 bit msbuild "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin\MSBuild.exe" is runnig first and it launches the 64bit msbuild "C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\12.0\Bin\amd64\MSBuild.exe" So normal build without publish works just fine.

But, if I choose publish, the 32bit MSbuild is running first and then it launches the 32 bit aspnet_compiler c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_compiler.exe and NOT the 64 bit one, which causes an error which I mentioned above.

The only workaround I've found until now is to replace the

"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_compiler.exe"

with a 64 bit one

"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_compiler.exe"

Question:

Is there any better (legal) solution for my problem? This looks like a bug in VS

Answer 1

Add this line to the .csproj file within a PropertyGroup node for the build configuration you are targeting (or use the ProperyGroup that doesn't have a target to target all release modes).

<AspnetCompilerPath>$(windir)\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319</AspnetCompilerPath>

The 64-bit version is then used by the compiler. For me, the node I added this line to was as below:

<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x64'">
   <AspnetCompilerPath>$(windir)\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319</AspnetCompilerPath>
</PropertyGroup>

Answer 2

I have exactly the same problem.

You can create BAT-files to replace the EXE before you start your publish. or Or you could write a BAT that calls the aspnet_compiler.exe directly and does the publish without the UI :-)

Answer 3

Add this line to the .pubxml file (Tree Solution\Project\Properties\PublishProfiles\.pubxml) within a PropertyGroup node for the publish configuration. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="4.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <AspnetCompilerPath>$(windir)\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319</AspnetCompilerPath>
    <WebPublishMethod>FileSystem</WebPublishMethod>
    <LastUsedBuildConfiguration>Debug</LastUsedBuildConfiguration>
    <LastUsedPlatform>Any CPU</LastUsedPlatform>
    <SiteUrlToLaunchAfterPublish />
    <LaunchSiteAfterPublish>True</LaunchSiteAfterPublish>
    <ExcludeApp_Data>False</ExcludeApp_Data>
    <publishUrl>C:\Pub\FTS_Service</publishUrl>
    <DeleteExistingFiles>True</DeleteExistingFiles>
    <PrecompileBeforePublish>True</PrecompileBeforePublish>
    <EnableUpdateable>True</EnableUpdateable>
    <DebugSymbols>False</DebugSymbols>
    <WDPMergeOption>DonotMerge</WDPMergeOption>
  </PropertyGroup>
</Project>