Could not load file or assembly System.Web.WebPage

Question

Im working developing a system web page and suddenly appears this error:

Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.WebPages.Deployment, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

I already verify my xml files configuration, and everything look good. This is the stack trace:

[FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.WebPages.Deployment, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.]
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) +0
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) +210
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean forIntrospection) +242
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean forIntrospection) +17
   System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(String assemblyString) +35
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective) +122

[ConfigurationErrorsException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.WebPages.Deployment, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.]
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective) [phone]
   System.Web.Configuration.AssemblyInfo.get_AssemblyInternal() +202
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetReferencedAssemblies(CompilationSection compConfig) +331
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(String preStartInitListPath, Boolean& isRefAssemblyLoaded) +148
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart() +172
   System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException) +1151

[HttpException (0x80004005): Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.WebPages.Deployment, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' 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]

Answer 1

copy this code in the "configuration" of Web.config,that will do it

  <runtime>
  <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
  <dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages.Deployment" publicKeyToken="31BF3856AD364E35" culture="neutral"/>
    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0"/>
  </dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding></runtime>

Answer 2

I resolved this problem adding line below in web.config of project...

Before I marked in MANAGE NUGET "Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc/5.1.2", "Microsoft ASP.NET Web Pages/3.1.2", I try anything but nothing works (really!! uninstall VS and read a lot articles)

<dependentAssembly>
   <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages.Deployment" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
   <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>

Good lucky

Answer 3

In my case this was due to corrupted assembly being referenced which happened due to crash restart of my laptop.

To fix this please following these steps

1. Clean all the files in the following folders of your project or you can simply click on clean project and clean solution

   • \bin
   • \obj

2. Clean the Appdata temp folder for my Win 7 machine its located here C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Local\Temp\Temporary ASP.NET Files in windows 7

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

Please try the following steps.

1. Check the Version of System.Web.Webpages in your References. Say Your Version is=X.X.X.X

2.In Webconfig

a.Add the assembly first

<assemblies>        
    <add assembly="System.Web.WebPages, Version=X.X.X.X, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
  </assemblies>

b.Bind the assembly for runtime

<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
  <dependentAssembly>
    <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages" publicKeyToken="31BF3856AD364E35" culture="neutral"/>
    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-X.X.X.X" newVersion="X.X.X.X"/>
  </dependentAssembly>        
</assemblyBinding>

3.Make sure you have added correct key

<appSettings>
    <add key="webpages:Version" value="X.X.X.X"/>
</appSettings>

This worked for me. Hope It'll help you too.

Answer 5

What I usually do is go to the machine where you compile you code and go to dos prompt and type this

C:> dir System.Web.WebPages.Depl* /s 

There might be several of them usually in

c:/windows/Microsoft.Net/assembly/GAG_MSIL/System.web.WebPage/v....../

check the date and make sure is the same as System.Web.WebPages.dll copy it to the bin where your target machine is. This should fix the problem.