Sitecore 10.1.0 Helix Visual Studio Project Publish issue: Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

Error:

Server Error in '/' Application.

Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.


Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to determine why the assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json' could not be loaded.

WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF.
To enable assembly bind failure logging, set the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1.
Note: There is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure logging.
To turn this feature off, remove the registry value [HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].


Stack Trace:

[FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)]

[FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json, Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)]
   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) +232
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean forIntrospection) +113
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean forIntrospection) +23
   System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(String assemblyString) +35
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective) +48

[ConfigurationErrorsException: Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json, Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)]
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective) +767
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAllAssembliesFromAppDomainBinDirectory() +256
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssembly(AssemblyInfo ai) +58
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetReferencedAssemblies(CompilationSection compConfig) +287
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetPreStartInitMethodsFromReferencedAssemblies() +69
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(String preStartInitListPath, Boolean& isRefAssemblyLoaded) +137
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart() +172
   System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException) +854

[HttpException (0x80004005): Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json, Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)]
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +532
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +111
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) +724



Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.8.4330.0


Cause:

The Newtonsoft.Json dll version needed for my Visual Studio project was different from what was required by the Sitecore web app instance. There are a few things to do here:

1. I always have a backup copy of the instance bin dlls. First thing, will put back the correct version of the dll in the web root bin folder since its overwritten now: Although this step is not needed, I always like to get rid of the ysod as soon as possible!

2. Next, ensure your Visual Studio project references the correct version of Newtonsoft.Json dll as needed for the Sitecore instance

3. Delete the project-specific bin and obj folders before doing the next project publish since the dll could be hanging there in the local bin folder although not referenced in the project as shown in example below:


4. Now, here is where there's a twist in this scenario I faced: I actually thought that the dll found in the local bin folder was due to a hanging reference but that wasn't the case: when I deleted the bin folder and did a project publish, I could see the Newtonsoft.Json dll  coming back in the bin folder although its not referenced in the project. 

One option I could take was to peek at all the existing references and find which one needs the Newtonsoft.Json dll  but, I decided to go the other way wherein I found the dll version for the working web app from its bin folder:


And, added that package to the project and published. In this case, Newtonsoft.Json 11.0.2:


Once the dll was added to the project, I had two options:

a. Set copy local for the Newtonsoft.Json dll reference as true, do an initial publish and set it back to false so that future publish don't overwrite


b. Leave copy local as true so that it rewrites every time you perform a publish

I decided to go with option a.

If you are a perfectionist and hadn't overwritten the dll as per step 1, you can now see the published bin dll version will match with what is required for the web app instance.

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