deploy Winform-application: Could not load file or assembly 'CefSharp.Core.Runtime.dll

[mrasoftGithub]

Dear Team,

I want to deploy a C# Winform-application with CEFSharp. After publishing, a setup.exe is created but I got this error on clicking the setup.exe: Could not load file or assembly 'CefSharp.Core.Runtime.dll'.

The program runs without problems in Visual Studio 2017 in the development-debug mode. Both 'CefSharp.Core.Runtime.dll' and 'CefSharp.Core.dll' are found in the deployment package.

I already read the other discussions and i tried accordingly but I still got the error.

Please assist. Thanks,

Depending on the Platform Target architecture (x64, x86) and the build (debug , release) I added this property to the project file: <CefSharpBuildAction>Content</CefSharpBuildAction>

For example I added this for a Debug x64 build platform:
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|x64'">
<DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
<OutputPath>bin\x64\Debug\</OutputPath>
<CefSharpBuildAction>Content</CefSharpBuildAction>

the property is not supported by AnyCPU at the time of this writing.

---

The error does not seem to appear in Visual Studio 2019.

---

Solved by adding this to the project file in Visual Studio 2017:

Adding this solved the problem in which duplicates are removed from the manifest file:
<Target Name="CefSharpClickOnceVS2017" BeforeTargets="GenerateApplicationManifest">
<ItemGroup>
<_DeploymentManifestFiles Remove="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\buildTransitive\..\CefSharp\$(PlatformTarget)\CefSharp.Core.Runtime.dll" />
<_DeploymentManifestFiles Remove="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\buildTransitive\..\CefSharp\$(PlatformTarget)\CefSharp.Core.Runtime.pdb" />
<_DeploymentManifestFiles Remove="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\buildTransitive\..\CefSharp\$(PlatformTarget)\CefSharp.Core.Runtime.xml" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>

Or adding this to the project file helped as well:

<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\**\*" Exclude="$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\x64\**\*;$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\locales\**\*.pak">
<Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
<Visible>false</Visible>
</Content>
<Content Include="$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\**\en-US.*">
<Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
</Content>
<Content Include="$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\x64\**\*">
<Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
<Visible>false</Visible>
</Content>
<Content Include="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\CefSharp\x64\**\CefSharp.BrowserSubprocess.*">
<Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
<Visible>false</Visible>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>

What is used:

• Visual Studio Community 2017 - Version 15.9.31
• Windows Forms App (.NET Framework)
• .NET Framework 4.7.2
• Platform Target architecture: x64
• Operating system: Windows10

NuGet-packages installed:

• CefSharp.WinForms 87.1.132
• CefSharp.Common 87.1.132
• CefSharp.OffScreen 87.1.132
• CefSharp.redist x86.87.1.13
• CefSharp.redist x64.87.1.13

What I want to deploy:

• Publish Wizard: From a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM

Result:
************** Exception Text **************
System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'CefSharp.Core.Runtime.dll' or one of its dependencies. The specified module could not be found.
File name: 'CefSharp.Core.Runtime.dll'
at CefSharp.CefSettingsBase..ctor()
at CefSharp.OffScreen.CefSettings..ctor()
at CEFSimplified.Form1.Form1_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

.dll-files involved, all found on the computer in question:

• KERNEL32.dll

• MSVCP140.dll

• VCRUNTIME140.dll

• api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll

• api-ms-win-crt-string-l1-1-0.dll

• api-ms-win-crt-heap-l1-1-0.dll

• libcef.dll

• USER32.dll

• mscoree.dll

• Microsoft Visual C++ 2005,2008, 2010, 2012,2013, 2015-2019 installed

[amaitland]

CefSharpBuildAction Content /CefSharpBuildAction
Results in: The element CefSharpBuildAction beneath element is unrecognized.

What exactly did you add and Where did you add it?

Are you targeting x86 or x64 or AnyCpu?

[amaitland]

Can you test with VS2019? I suspect the problem only reproduces with VS2017.

I'm testing with VS2019 which I believe is quite a bit different in terms of ClickOnce.

[mrasoftGithub]

I did the whole exercise again from scratch with Visual Studio 2019 (Community Version 16.8.5) and the error did not occur and it was installed without problems.

This came to my mind:

1. By default cef.redist.x64.87.1.13 and cef.redist.x.86.87.1.13 are installed (I presume as a dependency package):
   

2. I decided the install the new versions:
   

3. and this as well:
   

4. but its build gave errors:
   

5. so I uninstalled the packages in question and i did proceed with the NuGet-packages below:
   

With the two packages installed I did this:

1. The x64 project platform:
   

2. Adding this property to the .csproj project file:
   <CefSharpBuildAction>Content</CefSharpBuildAction>
   

3. Publishing
   

4. Successfully installed
   

[amaitland]

Thanks for confirming. The newer versions of cef.redist are for the 88 pre release.

A quick search and it looks suggests VS 2017 has likely generated a manifest with a duplicate entry. We can probably hack around this.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6793777/clickonce-file-already-exists-error-why-is-a-dll-file-trying-to-be-copied-tw

[amaitland]

For VS2017 you should be able to add the following to your project file to workaround the issue.

<Target Name="CefSharpClickOnceVS2017" BeforeTargets="GenerateApplicationManifest">
	<ItemGroup>
		<_DeploymentManifestFiles Remove="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\buildTransitive\..\CefSharp\$(PlatformTarget)\CefSharp.Core.Runtime.dll" />
		<_DeploymentManifestFiles Remove="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\buildTransitive\..\CefSharp\$(PlatformTarget)\CefSharp.Core.Runtime.pdb" />
		<_DeploymentManifestFiles Remove="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\buildTransitive\..\CefSharp\$(PlatformTarget)\CefSharp.Core.Runtime.xml" />
	</ItemGroup>
</Target>

The duplicate reference should be removed from the manifest.

[mrasoftGithub]

I added your <Target Name="CefSharpClickOnceVS2017" BeforeTargets="GenerateApplicationManifest"> ...</Target> to the project file and the workaround did work. Thanks.

1. Visual Studio 2017
   

2. I did include this as well: <CefSharpBuildAction>Content</CefSharpBuildAction>
   

3. The bypass: <Target Name="CefSharpClickOnceVS2017" BeforeTargets="GenerateApplicationManifest"> ...</Target>
   

4. Successfully installed:
   

[mrasoftGithub]

I am sorry but just adding this to a PropertyGroup in Visual Studio 2017 did not seem to work:
<CefSharpBuildAction>Content</CefSharpBuildAction>

Adding this to the project file solved the problem in which duplicates are removed from the manifest file:

<Target Name="CefSharpClickOnceVS2017" BeforeTargets="GenerateApplicationManifest">
<ItemGroup>
<_DeploymentManifestFiles Remove="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\buildTransitive\..\CefSharp\$(PlatformTarget)\CefSharp.Core.Runtime.dll" />
<_DeploymentManifestFiles Remove="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\buildTransitive\..\CefSharp\$(PlatformTarget)\CefSharp.Core.Runtime.pdb" />
<_DeploymentManifestFiles Remove="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\buildTransitive\..\CefSharp\$(PlatformTarget)\CefSharp.Core.Runtime.xml" />
</ItemGroup>
</Target>

Or adding this to the project file helped as well:

<ItemGroup>
<Content Include="$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\**\*" Exclude="$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\x64\**\*;$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\locales\**\*.pak">
<Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
<Visible>false</Visible>
</Content>
<Content Include="$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\**\en-US.*">
<Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
</Content>
<Content Include="$(SolutionDir)packages\cef.redist.x64.87.1.13\CEF\x64\**\*">
<Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
<Visible>false</Visible>
</Content>
<Content Include="$(SolutionDir)packages\CefSharp.Common.87.1.132\CefSharp\x64\**\CefSharp.BrowserSubprocess.*">
<Link>%(RecursiveDir)%(Filename)%(Extension)</Link>
<Visible>false</Visible>
</Content>
</ItemGroup>

It seems v87.1.1.132 still needs some things to be added to the project file in a ClickOnce Visual Studio 2017-project.

Thanks for responding to my discussion.

Best Regards,