The type initializer for 'CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument' threw an exception

c# .net deployment installshield crystal-reports-2010
gwin003 picture gwin003 · May 20, 2013 · Viewed 153.9k times · Source

I am deploying a desktop application to my clients that uses the Crystal Reports API to display and print forms. I am building my installer using InstallShield 2012. I have also included the .NET 4.0 Framework along with all of the Crystal assemblies. I have 2 (kinda related) concerns:

1) Whenever I tried to run the application on the client machine, I get the following error:

The type initializer for 'CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine.ReportDocument' 
      threw an exception.

I have no idea what I am forgetting here. The CrystalDecisions.CrystalReports.Engine dll is being registered in the GAC correctly, as are about 10 other Crystal assemblies.

2) I have asked this question on the SAP forums, and I was told I needed to include the .NET 2.0 Framework along with the .NET 4.0 Framework. I tried including the .NET 2.0 redistributable in my installer package, but the installer does not install it. Does the installer see that I have 4.0 installed, so it skips the 2.0 installation?

Answer

Jeremy Holovacs picture Jeremy Holovacs · Jun 10, 2013

Here is what worked for me:

If you are installing on a 64-bit machine, make sure the application properties under the Build tab have "Any CPU" as the platform target, and unselect the check box for "Prefer 32-bit" if you have the option. Crystal is very touchy about 32/64 bit assemblies, and makes some pretty counterintuitive assumptions which are very difficult to troubleshoot.

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