I am using a Windows 11 PC and have been debugging my ASP.NET applications with VS2022 successfully until recently i noticed any application i want to debug on my system displays this error "Could not load file or assembly 'System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. The module was expected to contain an assembly manifest."
I have done so many things, changed .NET Framework versions, installed them and unintalled them, used Nugget to install the primitives package, all to no avail.
Below is the full error stacktrace:
Server Error in '/' Application.
Could not load file or assembly 'System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. The module was expected to contain an assembly manifest.
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.BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. The module was expected to contain an assembly manifest.
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 'System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' 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:
[BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly 'System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. The module was expected to contain an assembly manifest.]
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 'System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. The module was expected to contain an assembly manifest.]
System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective) +767
System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssembly(AssemblyInfo ai) +85
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 'System.ServiceModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' or one of its dependencies. The module was expected to contain an assembly manifest.]
System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +532
System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +111
System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) +719
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319; ASP.NET Version:4.8.9037.0
I finally fixed it. Had to format the operating system after trying so many things including system restore, it's a windows update problem which corrupted the operating system.