asp.net - You must add a reference to assembly 'netstandard, Version=2.0.0.0

Question

The project is an ASP.NET MVC Web App targeting the .NET Framework 4.6.1.

All of a sudden (some NuGet packages were upgraded) I started to get the following error during runtime:

CS0012: The type 'System.Object' is defined in an assembly that is not referenced. You must add a reference to assembly 'netstandard, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51'.

In my main view Index.cshtml, in a line where I make use of @Html.ActionLink

I do have .NET Core SDK 2.0 and .NET Framework 4.7.1 installed in my machine but I don't want to include a reference to it. This is a .NET Framework web app only, it's hosted on Windows IIS where the installed framework is 4.6.1, there's no NET Core installed in the server.

So why is it asking to add a reference to netstandard? How can I fix it without referencing netstandard but the full Windows .NET Framework 4.6.1?

I've checked out a previous commit which worked fine and I'm still getting this error. So it's not related to NuGet packages being upgraded. Seems to be something on my local dev machine.

If a publish the app to a directory and run it with IIS it works.

Link to .csproj gist

packages.config

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<packages>
  <package id="Antlr" version="3.5.0.2" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="BundleTransformer.Core" version="1.9.69" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="BundleTransformer.Handlebars" version="1.9.73" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="BundleTransformer.Less" version="1.9.69" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="BundleTransformer.Yui" version="1.9.52" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Dapper" version="1.42" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="EcmaScript.Net" version="1.0.1.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="EntityFramework" version="6.0.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Glimpse" version="1.8.6" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Glimpse.AspNet" version="1.9.2" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Glimpse.Mvc5" version="1.5.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="JavaScriptEngineSwitcher.Core" version="1.2.4" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="JavaScriptEngineSwitcher.V8" version="1.3.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="jQuery" version="2.1.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="jQuery.Validation" version="1.13.1" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="LowercaseDashedRoute" version="1.0.14" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc" version="5.2.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Razor" version="3.2.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.Web.Optimization" version="1.1.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi" version="5.2.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Client" version="5.2.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Core" version="5.2.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.WebHost" version="5.2.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.AspNet.WebPages" version="3.2.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.jQuery.Unobtrusive.Validation" version="3.2.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin" version="3.0.1" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb" version="3.0.1" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.SqlServer.Compact" version="4.0.8876.1" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Web.Infrastructure" version="1.0.0.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Moment.js" version="2.10.2" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Newtonsoft.Json" version="10.0.3" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="NWebsec" version="5.1.1" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="NWebsec.Core" version="2.1.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="NWebsec.Mvc" version="5.1.1" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Owin" version="1.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Respond" version="1.4.2" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Sendgrid" version="6.3.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="SendGrid.SmtpApi" version="1.3.1" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Serilog" version="2.6.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Serilog.Enrichers.Environment" version="2.1.2" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Serilog.Sinks.File" version="3.2.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Serilog.Sinks.RollingFile" version="3.3.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Serilog.Sinks.Sentry" version="2.1.4" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="SerilogWeb.Classic" version="2.1.17" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="SharpRaven" version="2.2.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="System.Data.SQLite" version="1.0.108.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="System.Data.SQLite.Core" version="1.0.108.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="System.Data.SQLite.EF6" version="1.0.108.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="System.Data.SQLite.Linq" version="1.0.108.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="Twitter.Bootstrap.Less" version="3.3.4" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="WebActivatorEx" version="2.0.6" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="WebGrease" version="1.6.0" targetFramework="net46" />
  <package id="YUICompressor.NET" version="2.7.0.0" targetFramework="net46" />
</packages>

When publishing the app using VS2017 to the file system I get the following warning in the output:

The following assembly has dependencies on a version of the .NET Framework that is higher than the target and might not load correctly during runtime causing a failure: netstandard, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51. The dependencies are: System.Transactions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089. You should either ensure that the dependent assembly is correct for the target framework, or ensure that the target framework you are addressing is that of the dependent assembly.

But I can't find anything on System.Transactions. How can I search what's referencing it?

Answer 1

I think the solution might be this issue on GitHub:

Try add netstandard reference in web.config like this:"

<system.web>
  <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.7.1" >
    <assemblies>
      <add assembly="netstandard, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, 
            PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51"/>
    </assemblies>
  </compilation>
  <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.7.1" />

I realise you're using 4.6.1 but the choice of .NET 4.7.1 is significant as older Framework versions are not fully compatible with .NET Standard 2.0.

I know this from painful experience, when I introduced .NET Standard libraries I had a lot of issues with NUGET packages and references breaking. The other change you need to consider is upgrading to PackageReferences instead of package.config files.

See this guide and you might also want a tool to help the upgrade. It does require a late VS 15.7 version though.