[c#] How to resolve this System.IO.FileNotFoundException

• The error only happens in production (not in debugging).
• The error only happens on the first application run after Windows login.
• The error occurs when we click BtnUseDesktop and thus fire the BtnUseDesktop_Click event (below).
• The Event Viewer stack starts with the The.Application.Name.Main() method...
• but our code does not have that method (it's a WPF application).

Event Viewer

 Application: The.Application.Name.exe
 Framework Version: v4.0.30319
 Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
 Exception Info: System.IO.FileNotFoundException
 Stack:

   at MS.Internal.Threading.ExceptionFilterHelper.TryCatchWhen(
      System.Object, System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32, System.Delegate)

   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.LegacyInvokeImpl(
      System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherPriority, System.TimeSpan, 
      System.Delegate, System.Object, Int32)

   at MS.Win32.HwndSubclass.SubclassWndProc(IntPtr, Int32, IntPtr, IntPtr)

   at MS.Win32.UnsafeNativeMethods.DispatchMessage(System.Windows.Interop.MSG ByRef)

   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrameImpl(
      System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherFrame)

   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.PushFrame(
      System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherFrame)

   at System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.Run()

   at System.Windows.Application.RunDispatcher(System.Object)

   at System.Windows.Application.RunInternal(System.Windows.Window)

   at System.Windows.Application.Run(System.Windows.Window)

   at The.Application.Name.Main()

BtnUseDesktop_Click

private void BtnUseDesktop_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    AvSwitcher switcher = new AvSwitcher();
    this.RunAsyncTask(() => 
        switcher.SwitchToDesktop(this.windowSyncSvc.ActiveLyncWindowHandle));
}

The AvSwitcher that the Click Event Calls Into

public class AvSwitcher
{
    private DeviceLocationSvc deviceLocationSvc;
    private UIAutomationSvc uiAutomationSvc;
    private WindowMovingSvc windowMovingSvc;
    private ManualResetEvent manualResetEvent;
    private Modality audioVideo;
    public static bool IsSwitching { get; set; }

    public AvSwitcher()
    {            
        this.deviceLocationSvc = new DeviceLocationSvc();
        this.uiAutomationSvc = new UIAutomationSvc();
        this.windowMovingSvc = new WindowMovingSvc();
    }

    public void SwitchToDesktop(IntPtr activeLyncConvWindowHandle)
    {
        this.BeginHold(DeviceLocation.Desktop, activeLyncConvWindowHandle);
    }

    public void SwitchToWall(IntPtr activeLyncConvWindowHandle)
    {
        this.BeginHold(DeviceLocation.Wall, activeLyncConvWindowHandle);
    }

    private Conversation GetLyncConversation()
    {
        Conversation conv = null;
        if (LyncClient.GetClient() != null)
        {
            conv = LyncClient.GetClient().ConversationManager.Conversations.FirstOrDefault();
        }

        return conv;
    }

    private void BeginHold(DeviceLocation targetLocation, IntPtr activeLyncConvWindowHandle)
    {
        AvSwitcher.IsSwitching = true;

        // make sure the class doesn't dispose of itself
        this.manualResetEvent = new ManualResetEvent(false);

        Conversation conv = this.GetLyncConversation();
        if (conv != null)
        {
            this.audioVideo = conv.Modalities[ModalityTypes.AudioVideo];
            ModalityState modalityState = this.audioVideo.State;

            if (modalityState == ModalityState.Connected)
            {
                this.HoldCallAndThenDoTheSwitching(targetLocation, activeLyncConvWindowHandle);
            }
            else
            {
                this.DoTheSwitching(targetLocation, activeLyncConvWindowHandle);
            }
        }
    }

    private void HoldCallAndThenDoTheSwitching(
        DeviceLocation targetLocation, 
        IntPtr activeLyncConvWindowHandle)
    {
        try
        {
            this.audioVideo.BeginHold(
                this.BeginHold_callback,
                new AsyncStateValues()
                {
                    TargetLocation = targetLocation,
                    ActiveLyncConvWindowHandle = activeLyncConvWindowHandle
                });
            this.manualResetEvent.WaitOne();
        }
        catch (UnauthorizedAccessException)
        {
            // the call is already on hold
            this.DoTheSwitching(targetLocation, activeLyncConvWindowHandle);
        }
    }

    private void BeginHold_callback(IAsyncResult ar)
    {
        if (ar.IsCompleted)
        {
            DeviceLocation targetLocation = ((AsyncStateValues)ar.AsyncState).TargetLocation;
            IntPtr activeLyncConvWindowHandle = 
                ((AsyncStateValues)ar.AsyncState).ActiveLyncConvWindowHandle;
            this.DoTheSwitching(targetLocation, activeLyncConvWindowHandle);
        }

        Thread.Sleep(2000); // is this necessary
        this.audioVideo.BeginRetrieve(this.BeginRetrieve_callback, null);
    }

    private void DoTheSwitching(DeviceLocation targetLocation, IntPtr activeLyncConvWindowHandle)
    {
        DeviceLocationSvc.TargetDevices targetDevices = 
            this.deviceLocationSvc.GetTargetDevices(targetLocation);

        this.SwitchScreenUsingWinApi(targetDevices.Screen, activeLyncConvWindowHandle);
        this.SwitchVideoUsingLyncApi(targetDevices.VideoDevice);
        this.SwitchAudioUsingUIAutomation(
            targetDevices.MicName, 
            targetDevices.SpeakersName, 
            activeLyncConvWindowHandle);

        AvSwitcher.IsSwitching = false;
    }

    private void SwitchScreenUsingWinApi(Screen targetScreen, IntPtr activeLyncConvWindowHandle)
    {
        if (activeLyncConvWindowHandle != IntPtr.Zero)
        {
            WindowPosition wp = 
                this.windowMovingSvc.GetTargetWindowPositionFromScreen(targetScreen);
            this.windowMovingSvc.MoveTheWindowToTargetPosition(activeLyncConvWindowHandle, wp);
        }
    }

    private void SwitchVideoUsingLyncApi(VideoDevice targetVideoDevice)
    {
        if (targetVideoDevice != null)
        {
            LyncClient.GetClient().DeviceManager.ActiveVideoDevice = targetVideoDevice;
        }
    }

    private void SwitchAudioUsingUIAutomation(
        string targetMicName, 
        string targetSpeakersName, 
        IntPtr activeLyncConvWindowHandle)
    {
        if (targetMicName != null && targetSpeakersName != null)
        {
            AutomationElement lyncConvWindow = 
                AutomationElement.FromHandle(activeLyncConvWindowHandle);

            AutomationElement lyncOptionsWindow =
                this.uiAutomationSvc.OpenTheLyncOptionsWindowFromTheConvWindow(lyncConvWindow);

            this.uiAutomationSvc.SelectTheTargetMic(lyncOptionsWindow, targetMicName);

            this.uiAutomationSvc.SelectTheTargetSpeakers(lyncOptionsWindow, targetSpeakersName);

            this.uiAutomationSvc.InvokeOkayButton(lyncOptionsWindow);
        }
    }

    private void BeginRetrieve_callback(IAsyncResult ar)
    {
        this.audioVideo.EndRetrieve(ar);
        this.manualResetEvent.Set(); // allow the program to exit
    }

    private class AsyncStateValues
    {
        internal DeviceLocation TargetLocation { get; set; }

        internal IntPtr ActiveLyncConvWindowHandle { get; set; }
    }
}

I came across a similar situation after publishing a ClickOnce application, and one of my colleagues on a different domain reported that it fails to launch.

To find out what was going on, I added a try catch statement inside the MainWindow method as @BradleyDotNET mentioned in one comment on the original post, and then published again.

public MainWindow()
{
    try
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }
    catch (Exception exc)
    {
        MessageBox.Show(exc.ToString());
    }
}

Then my colleague reported to me the exception detail, and it was a missing reference of a third party framework dll file.

Added the reference and problem solved.

I've been mislead by this error more than once. After spending hours googling, updating nuget packages, version checking, then after sitting with a completely updated solution I re-realize a perfectly valid, simpler reason for the error.

If in a threaded enthronement (UI Dispatcher.Invoke for example), System.IO.FileNotFoundException is thrown if the thread manager dll (file) fails to return. So if your main UI thread A, calls the system thread manager dll B, and B calls your thread code C, but C throws for some unrelated reason (such as null Reference as in my case), then C does not return, B does not return, and A only blames B with FileNotFoundException for being lost...

Before going down the dll version path... Check closer to home and verify your thread code is not throwing.

Check all the references carefully

• Version remains same on target machine and local machine
• If assembly is referenced from GAC, ensure that proper version is loaded

For me cleaning entire solution by deleting manually, updating (removing and adding) references again with version in sync with target machine and then building with with Copy Local > False for GAC assemblies solves the problem.