Add Reference in Framework 4 Application is not showing assemblies in GAC registered with GACUtil V 4

Question

I've registered a dll in my local GAC using the GACUtil which comes with VS2010 (version 4ish)

I can perform gacutil /l xxx and it finds the dll

I am aware from various other posts that Framework 4 has it's own GAC and sure enough the file can be located in the directories within C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\assembly

The problem for me, is that the .NET tab on the Add Reference dialogbox does not show my "GAC'ed" assembly.

I've made sure that the projects properties are using the same version of the 4.0 framework, but I am currently at a loss.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Cheers in advance

Answer 1

The "Add Reference" window does not list assemblies in the GAC. Visual Studio keeps it's own list of paths to search for assemblies to list in that window. See here for instructions on how to make your assembly show up in that list, specifically under the heading "To display an assembly in the Add Reference dialog box"

Answer 2

Just as an alternative...

A more manual way of adding the dlls via the web.config is possible.

using the assemblies node

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bfyb45k1.aspx

any information you may need can be found by using the gacutil /l <name of assembly>