PRB: PEVerify.exe causes problem verifying add-in with referenced assemblies from Visual Studio not in the GAC

Author:	Carlos J. Quintero (Microsoft MVP)	Applies to:	Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
Date:	June 2009		Microsoft Visual Studio 2008

Introduction

When using the peverify.exe tool of the .NET Framework 2.0 SDK to verify an add-in that references a Visual Studio assembly not in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC) but in the installation folder of Visual Studio (such as Microsoft.VisualStudio.Data.Interop.dll), you get this error:

Error 0x80070002 "The system cannot find the file specified"

Notice that the referenced assembly should have the Copy Local property set to False because assemblies in the installation folder of Visual Studio should not be redistributed. The referenced assembly will be located correctly when the add-in is hosted in Visual Studio. It won't be found when verifying it with the peverify.exe tool, though.

More Information

To solve this problem:

• If your add-in dll is named "myaddin.dll", create a text file with the name "myaddin.dll.config"

• Place this content inside that config file that specifies the file path of the referenced assembly (adjust the items in bold face):

Language: XML

Copy Code (IE only)

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<configuration>
   <runtime>
      <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
         <dependentAssembly>
            <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.VisualStudio.Data.Interop" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral" />
            <codeBase version="9.0.0.0" href="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\Microsoft.VisualStudio.Data.Interop.dll" />
         </dependentAssembly>
      </assemblyBinding>
   </runtime>
</configuration>

Once that file is placed in the same folder than the add-in dll, the peverify.exe tool will work fine.

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• PRB: PEVerify.exe causes problem with EnvDTE.dll verifying Visual Studio 2005 add-ins

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