Could not load type 'System.Runtime.CompilerSe

Question

When starting up my web site for the first time, I'm getting this error

Could not load type 'System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ExtensionAttribute' from assembly 'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'

What am I doing wrong?

I am using .NET 4 and am starting the site from Visual Studio.

The only thing I've changed recently is add Simple Injector (via Nuget) into my project.

Here's the stack trace

[TypeLoadException: Could not load type 'System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ExtensionAttribute' from assembly 'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'.]
   System.ModuleHandle.ResolveType(RuntimeModule module, Int32 typeToken, IntPtr* typeInstArgs, Int32 typeInstCount, IntPtr* methodInstArgs, Int32 methodInstCount, ObjectHandleOnStack type) +0
   System.ModuleHandle.ResolveTypeHandleInternal(RuntimeModule module, Int32 typeToken, RuntimeTypeHandle[] typeInstantiationContext, RuntimeTypeHandle[] methodInstantiationContext) +180
   System.Reflection.RuntimeModule.ResolveType(Int32 metadataToken, Type[] genericTypeArguments, Type[] genericMethodArguments) +192
   System.Reflection.CustomAttribute.FilterCustomAttributeRecord(CustomAttributeRecord caRecord, MetadataImport scope, Assembly& lastAptcaOkAssembly, RuntimeModule decoratedModule, MetadataToken decoratedToken, RuntimeType attributeFilterType, Boolean mustBeInheritable, Object[] attributes, IList derivedAttributes, RuntimeType& attributeType, IRuntimeMethodInfo& ctor, Boolean& ctorHasParameters, Boolean& isVarArg) +115
   System.Reflection.CustomAttribute.GetCustomAttributes(RuntimeModule decoratedModule, Int32 decoratedMetadataToken, Int32 pcaCount, RuntimeType attributeFilterType, Boolean mustBeInheritable, IList derivedAttributes, Boolean isDecoratedTargetSecurityTransparent) +426
   System.Reflection.CustomAttribute.GetCustomAttributes(RuntimeAssembly assembly, RuntimeType caType) +103
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.GetCustomAttributes(Type attributeType, Boolean inherit) +64
   WebActivator.AssemblyExtensions.GetActivationAttributes(Assembly assembly) +132
   WebActivator.ActivationManager.RunActivationMethods() +216
   WebActivator.ActivationManager.RunPreStartMethods() +43
   WebActivator.ActivationManager.Run() +69

[InvalidOperationException: The pre-application start initialization method Run on type WebActivator.ActivationManager threw an exception with the following error message: Could not load type 'System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ExtensionAttribute' from assembly 'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'..]
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.InvokePreStartInitMethods(ICollection`1 methods) +423
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods() +306
   System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException) +677

[HttpException (0x80004005): The pre-application start initialization method Run on type WebActivator.ActivationManager threw an exception with the following error message: Could not load type 'System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ExtensionAttribute' from assembly 'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'..]
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +9090876
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +97
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestInternal(HttpWorkerRequest wr) +258

The first line of all views get highlighted and when you hover over them you get this error

The pre-application start initialisation method Run on type WebActivator.ActivationManager threw an exception with the following error message Could not load type 'System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ExtensionAttribute' from assembly 'mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089'.

Answer 1

We ran into this problem and tracked it down to the Geocoding.net NuGet package that we were using to help with our Google Maps views (Geocoding.net version 3.1.0 published 2/4/2014).

The Geocoding dll appears to be .Net 4.0 when you examine the package file or view it using Jet Brains’ Dot Peek application; however, a colleague of mine says that it was compiled using ilmerge so it is most likely related to the ilmerge problems listed above.

It was a long process to track it down. We fetched different changesets from TFS till we narrowed it down to the changeset that added the aforementioned NuGet package. After removing it, we were able to deploy to our .NET 4 server.

Answer 2

I had this exact same problem with a site (Kentico CMS), starting development in 4.5, finding out the production server only supports 4.0, tried going back down to target framework of 4.0. Compiling the other posts in this thread (specifically changing target framework to .Net 4 and .Net 4.5 still being referenced). I searched through my solution and found that a handful of the NuGet packages were still using libraries with targetFramework="net45".

packages.config (before):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
  <package id="AutoMapper" version="3.1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="EntityFramework" version="5.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client" version="5.0.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="4.5.11" targetFramework="net45" />
</packages>

I changed the projects target framework back to 4.5, removed all NuGet libraries, went back down to 4.0 and re-added the libraries (had to use some previous versions that were not dependent on 4.5).

packages.config (after):
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
  <package id="AutoMapper" version="3.1.1" targetFramework="net40" />
  <package id="EntityFramework" version="6.0.2" targetFramework="net40" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client" version="4.0.30506.0" targetFramework="net40" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Net.Http" version="2.0.20710.0" targetFramework="net40" />
  <package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="4.5.11" targetFramework="net40" />
</packages>

Answer 3

I had this problem, except the type it couldn't load was System.Reflection.AssemblyMetadataAttribute. The web application was built on a machine with .NET 4.5 installed (runs fine there), with 4.0 as the target framework, but the error presented itself when it was run on a web server with only 4.0 installed. I then tried it on a web server with 4.5 installed and there was no error. So, as others have said, this is all due to the screwy way Microsoft released 4.5, which basically is an upgrade to (and overwrite of) version 4.0. The System.Reflection assembly references a type that doesn't exist in 4.0 (AssemblyMetadataAttribute) so it will fail if you don't have the new System.Reflection.dll.

You can either install .NET 4.5 on the target web server, or build the application on a machine that does not have 4.5 installed. Far from an ideal resolution.

Answer 4

In my case, it was Blend SDK missed out on TeamCity machine. This caused the error due incorrect way of assembly resolving then.