System BadImageFormatException Could not load file or assembly from installutil exe

Question

I am trying to install a Windows service using InstallUtil exe and am getting the error message     System BadImageFormatException  Could not load file or assembly   xxx exe   or one of its dependencies  An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format    What gives     EDIT   Not by OP  Full message extracted from dup getting way more hits  for googleability       C  Windows Microsoft NET Framework64 v4 0 30319 InstallUtil exe C  xxx exe       Microsoft  R   NET Framework Installation utility Version 4 0 30319 1       Copyright  c  Microsoft Corporation   All rights reserved       Exception occurred while initializing the installation        System BadImageFormatException  Could not load file or assembly  file    C  xxx exe  or one of its dependencies  An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format

User · Answer

We found a different solution to a problem with the same symptom:

We saw this error when we updated the project from .net 4.7.1 to 4.7.2.

The problem was that even though we were not referencing System.Net.Http any more in the project, it was listed in the dependentAssembily section of our web.config. Removing this and any other unused assembly references from the web.config solved the problem.

User · Answer

I have faced this issue today  In my case  my application s  had a reference to a 64-bit dll  platform target was set to AnyCPU but Prefer 32-bit check box under platform target section was ticked by default  This was the problem and worked all fine after un-checking Prefer 32-bit option

User · Answer

In my case I used Framework64 like below cd  cd  quot C  Windows Microsoft NET Framework64 v4 0 30319 quot  installutil exe  quot C  XXX Bin ABC exe quot  pause

User · Answer

I think you are using the 64-bit version of the tool to install a 32-bit application   I ve also faced this issue today and used this Framework path to cater    C  Windows Microsoft NET Framework v4 0 30319  and it should install your 32-bit application just fine

User · Answer

The key is to set  match processor settings for the project which are at two places     And also make sure the architecture settings is same in Test menu    Test Settings    Default Processor Architecture     as show below     This is for VS2013 but maybe same for other versions too   Update - For VS2019

User · Answer

The problem is that every System BadImageFormatException  Could not load file or assembly including the ones not associated with installutil exe at all point to this very thread     If your issue is related to WindowsBase or PresentationFramework dlls and you got analyzers installed make sure to either have them installed for all of the projects in your solution or for none of them    Reference the entire framework in  csproj file of your library rather than just the two dlls    lt Project Sdk  Microsoft NET Sdk WindowsDesktop  gt      lt PropertyGroup gt       lt OutputType gt Library lt  OutputType gt       lt TargetFramework gt netcoreapp3 0 lt  TargetFramework gt       lt RazorLangVersion gt 3 0 lt  RazorLangVersion gt       lt UseWpf gt True lt  UseWpf gt     lt  PropertyGroup gt   Remove bin and obj dirs  clean solution and rebuild

User · Answer

I had the same issue   I using the standard command for execution   It was calling the X64 ro run against X86 tests   I needed to specify the X86 and not the X64 version of the nunit-runner

User · Answer

The key is to set  match processor settings for the project which are at two places     And also make sure the architecture settings is same in Test menu    Test Settings    Default Processor Architecture     as show below     This is for VS2013 but maybe same for other versions too   Update - For VS2019

User · Answer

In the case of having this message in live tests  but not in unit tests  it s because selected assemblies are copied on the fly to   SolutionDir   vs   SolutionName  lut 0 0 x64 Debug   But sometime few assemblies can be not selected  eg   VC   dlls in case of interop c   c  projects   Post-build xcopy won t correct the problem  because the copied file will be erased by the live test engine   The only workaround to date  28 dec 2018   is to avoid Live tests  and do everything in unit tests with the attribute  TestCategory  SkipWhenLiveUnitTesting    applied to the test class or the test method   This bug is seen in any Visual Studio 2017 up to 15 9 4  and needs to be addressed by the Visual Studio team

User · Answer

Summarizing  both the Build and Project Build Platform has to be set to x64 in order to successfully install 64 bit service on 64 bit system

User · Answer

I had this issue with a WinForms Project using VS 2015  My solution was    right click the Project select properties check  Prefer 32-bit  Platform target  Any CPU

User · Answer

Make sure the newest Framework  the one you compiled your app with  is first in the PATH  That solved the problem for me   Found on a forum

User · Answer

Target build x64 Target Server Hosting IIS 64 Bit  Right Click appPool hosting running the website web application and set the enable 32 bit application   false

User · Answer

My issue was different   This occurred after an unexpected shutdown of my windows 7 machine   I performed a clean solution and it ran as expected

User · Answer

I have faced this issue today  In my case  my application s  had a reference to a 64-bit dll  platform target was set to AnyCPU but Prefer 32-bit check box under platform target section was ticked by default  This was the problem and worked all fine after un-checking Prefer 32-bit option

User · Answer

Summarizing  both the Build and Project Build Platform has to be set to x64 in order to successfully install 64 bit service on 64 bit system

User · Answer

After trying all the mentioned solutions I found the PlatformTarget somehow added to AnyCPU configuration in my project  csproj    lt PropertyGroup Condition      Configuration    Platform       Release AnyCPU    gt       lt DebugType gt pdbonly lt  DebugType gt       lt Optimize gt true lt  Optimize gt       lt OutputPath gt bin Release  lt  OutputPath gt       lt DefineConstants gt TRACE lt  DefineConstants gt       lt ErrorReport gt prompt lt  ErrorReport gt       lt WarningLevel gt 4 lt  WarningLevel gt       lt PlatformTarget gt x64 lt  PlatformTarget gt   lt  PropertyGroup gt    Removing the line worked for me

User · Answer

I had this issue with a WinForms Project using VS 2015  My solution was    right click the Project select properties check  Prefer 32-bit  Platform target  Any CPU

User · Answer

Target build x64 Target Server Hosting IIS 64 Bit  Right Click appPool hosting running the website web application and set the enable 32 bit application   false

User · Answer

OK  this is the problem I had  and  what fixed it  seems very relevant to the above   I am using Visual Studio 2010 Express  I wrote a test service that didn t really do anything  It was just practice for the real thing later    I wrote the service and tried to install it using installutil exe and got the following error      System BadImageFormatException  Could not load file or assembly   filename exe   or one of its dependencies  An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format    So far the same as the original author    Ruben s observation above about the 32 bit output of Visual Studio 2010 was the saviour here    I used the 64-bit version of the installutil exe and sure enough  the output of the Visual Studio 2010 build was 32-bit  Just to add a little extra value here  you can find the 32-bit version of the latest  NET framework and the associated installutil exe in the C  Windows Microsoft NET framework folder  Using this version of the installutil exe fixed my problem  the service installed without a hitch   I hope this helps someone else out there

User · Answer

Some more detail for completeness in case it helps someone     Note that the most common reason for this exception these days is attempting to load a 32 bit-specific   platform x86  DLL into a process that is 64 bit or vice versa  viz  load a 64 bit-specific   platform x64  DLL into a process that is 32 bit   If your platform is non-specific   platform AnyCpu   this won t arise  assuming no referenced dependencies are of the wrong bitness    In other words  running       windir  Microsoft NET Framework v2 0 50727 installutil exe    or       windir  Microsoft NET Framework64 v2 0 50727 installutil exe    will not work  substitute in other framework versions  v1 1 4322  32-bit only  so this issue doesn t arise  and v4 0 30319 as desired in the above    Obviously  as covered in the other answer  one will also need the  NET version number of the installutil you are running to be     preferably    that of the EXE DLL file you are running the installer of   Finally  note that in Visual Studio 2010  the tooling will default to generating x86 binaries  rather than Any CPU as previously    Complete details of System BadImageFormatException  saying the only cause is mismatched bittedness is really a gross oversimplification     Another reason for a BadImageFormatException under an x64 installer is that in Visual Studio 2010  the default  vdproj Install Project type generates a 32-bit InstallUtilLib shim  even on an x64 system  Search for  64-bit managed custom actions throw a System BadImageFormatException exception  on the page

User · Answer

We found a different solution to a problem with the same symptom:

We saw this error when we updated the project from .net 4.7.1 to 4.7.2.

The problem was that even though we were not referencing System.Net.Http any more in the project, it was listed in the dependentAssembily section of our web.config. Removing this and any other unused assembly references from the web.config solved the problem.

User · Answer

Some more detail for completeness in case it helps someone     Note that the most common reason for this exception these days is attempting to load a 32 bit-specific   platform x86  DLL into a process that is 64 bit or vice versa  viz  load a 64 bit-specific   platform x64  DLL into a process that is 32 bit   If your platform is non-specific   platform AnyCpu   this won t arise  assuming no referenced dependencies are of the wrong bitness    In other words  running       windir  Microsoft NET Framework v2 0 50727 installutil exe    or       windir  Microsoft NET Framework64 v2 0 50727 installutil exe    will not work  substitute in other framework versions  v1 1 4322  32-bit only  so this issue doesn t arise  and v4 0 30319 as desired in the above    Obviously  as covered in the other answer  one will also need the  NET version number of the installutil you are running to be     preferably    that of the EXE DLL file you are running the installer of   Finally  note that in Visual Studio 2010  the tooling will default to generating x86 binaries  rather than Any CPU as previously    Complete details of System BadImageFormatException  saying the only cause is mismatched bittedness is really a gross oversimplification     Another reason for a BadImageFormatException under an x64 installer is that in Visual Studio 2010  the default  vdproj Install Project type generates a 32-bit InstallUtilLib shim  even on an x64 system  Search for  64-bit managed custom actions throw a System BadImageFormatException exception  on the page

User · Answer

In my case I used Framework64 like below cd  cd  quot C  Windows Microsoft NET Framework64 v4 0 30319 quot  installutil exe  quot C  XXX Bin ABC exe quot  pause

User · Answer

In the case of having this message in live tests  but not in unit tests  it s because selected assemblies are copied on the fly to   SolutionDir   vs   SolutionName  lut 0 0 x64 Debug   But sometime few assemblies can be not selected  eg   VC   dlls in case of interop c   c  projects   Post-build xcopy won t correct the problem  because the copied file will be erased by the live test engine   The only workaround to date  28 dec 2018   is to avoid Live tests  and do everything in unit tests with the attribute  TestCategory  SkipWhenLiveUnitTesting    applied to the test class or the test method   This bug is seen in any Visual Studio 2017 up to 15 9 4  and needs to be addressed by the Visual Studio team

User · Answer

The problem is that every System BadImageFormatException  Could not load file or assembly including the ones not associated with installutil exe at all point to this very thread     If your issue is related to WindowsBase or PresentationFramework dlls and you got analyzers installed make sure to either have them installed for all of the projects in your solution or for none of them    Reference the entire framework in  csproj file of your library rather than just the two dlls    lt Project Sdk  Microsoft NET Sdk WindowsDesktop  gt      lt PropertyGroup gt       lt OutputType gt Library lt  OutputType gt       lt TargetFramework gt netcoreapp3 0 lt  TargetFramework gt       lt RazorLangVersion gt 3 0 lt  RazorLangVersion gt       lt UseWpf gt True lt  UseWpf gt     lt  PropertyGroup gt   Remove bin and obj dirs  clean solution and rebuild

User · Answer

Make sure the newest Framework  the one you compiled your app with  is first in the PATH  That solved the problem for me   Found on a forum

User · Answer

I think you are using the 64-bit version of the tool to install a 32-bit application   I ve also faced this issue today and used this Framework path to cater    C  Windows Microsoft NET Framework v4 0 30319  and it should install your 32-bit application just fine

User · Answer

Make sure the newest Framework  the one you compiled your app with  is first in the PATH  That solved the problem for me   Found on a forum

User · Answer

Make sure the newest Framework  the one you compiled your app with  is first in the PATH  That solved the problem for me   Found on a forum

User · Answer

My issue was different   This occurred after an unexpected shutdown of my windows 7 machine   I performed a clean solution and it ran as expected

User · Answer

OK  this is the problem I had  and  what fixed it  seems very relevant to the above   I am using Visual Studio 2010 Express  I wrote a test service that didn t really do anything  It was just practice for the real thing later    I wrote the service and tried to install it using installutil exe and got the following error      System BadImageFormatException  Could not load file or assembly   filename exe   or one of its dependencies  An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format    So far the same as the original author    Ruben s observation above about the 32 bit output of Visual Studio 2010 was the saviour here    I used the 64-bit version of the installutil exe and sure enough  the output of the Visual Studio 2010 build was 32-bit  Just to add a little extra value here  you can find the 32-bit version of the latest  NET framework and the associated installutil exe in the C  Windows Microsoft NET framework folder  Using this version of the installutil exe fixed my problem  the service installed without a hitch   I hope this helps someone else out there

User · Answer

I had the same issue   I using the standard command for execution   It was calling the X64 ro run against X86 tests   I needed to specify the X86 and not the X64 version of the nunit-runner

User · Answer

After trying all the mentioned solutions I found the PlatformTarget somehow added to AnyCPU configuration in my project  csproj    lt PropertyGroup Condition      Configuration    Platform       Release AnyCPU    gt       lt DebugType gt pdbonly lt  DebugType gt       lt Optimize gt true lt  Optimize gt       lt OutputPath gt bin Release  lt  OutputPath gt       lt DefineConstants gt TRACE lt  DefineConstants gt       lt ErrorReport gt prompt lt  ErrorReport gt       lt WarningLevel gt 4 lt  WarningLevel gt       lt PlatformTarget gt x64 lt  PlatformTarget gt   lt  PropertyGroup gt    Removing the line worked for me

[.net] System.BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly (from installutil.exe)

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