如何运行降级到.Net 4.0的混合C＃/ CLR / C ++解决方案？

Question

I have solution with mixed projects: C#, native C++ and CLR/C++ (this also requires some external DLLs). When I used default settings of VS 2012 and targeted for .Net 4.5 it worked fine. But then I had to downgrade it to .Net 4.0.

I succeed by building solution only for 32-bit and forcing C# main project to be built for 32-bit also (usually C# is used for "Any CPU").

With such settings in runs fine on 2 computers out of 3 I have for tests -- meaning on it fails. It claims it cannot load CLR/C++ project or one of it dependencies.

So my problem is how to run it or at least to know what failed exactly ? From the list of installed programs I can see that on working computer I have either .Net 4.5 Multi-Target or I don't have .Net 4.5 at all (only 4.0). On computer which fails I have .Net 4.5 (period). So maybe my program tries to load some assemblies from .Net 4.5 instead of 4.0? But that is just guessing.

Question -- how to diagnose such twisted solution and how to fix it?

Answer 1

1. Install .Net framework 4.0 multi-targeting pack
2. Check references (including NuGet, if any)

Answer 2

When I encounter a similar problem I usualy check the following:

1. Do you have Visual Studio installed on any of those three machines? I guess it's installed on the two where your application is running. If so, I'll extend the list later.

2. Check the target of the C++/CLI project - it should be Win32 if you build for 32-bit.

3. Run the application without Visual Studio , wait until it fails and go to the Event Viewer to look for some usefull information there.

4. Get Process Monitor , run the application without Visual Studio , wait until it fails, stop monitoring and filter the list by the application name and failed operations and look there for some usefull information.