How to debug "Could not load file or assembly" runtime errors?

Wookai picture Wookai · Jan 5, 2011 · Viewed 33.6k times · Source

I have a project that uses a Java library converted using IKVM. I added the created DLL plus all possible IKVM DLLs as references to my project, but when I run it, I get the following runtime error:

System.IO.FileNotFoundException : Could not load file or assembly 'core, Version=0.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

I'm not really sure how to debug this error. Is there a way to know exactly which type is missing? From the description I'd guess this is the generated DLL (from the Java lib) but I have properly added it as reference.

What else have I done wrong?

Answer

Tim Barrass picture Tim Barrass · Jan 5, 2011

You can use the Fusion Log Viewer to debug assembly loading problems in .NET apps.

Also, Process Monitor is very useful in identifying general file-load problems.