Why do I get a duplicated entry in my Windows manifest?

Question

The following manifest is added to my .exe.:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
    <ms_asmv2:trustInfo xmlns:ms_asmv2="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
     <ms_asmv2:security>
      <ms_asmv2:requestedPrivileges>
       <ms_asmv2:requestedExecutionLevel level="asInvoker" />
      </ms_asmv2:requestedPrivileges>
     </ms_asmv2:security>
    </ms_asmv2:trustInfo>
  <asmv3:application xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
    <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings"&gt;
      <dpiAware>true</dpiAware>
    </asmv3:windowsSettings>
  </asmv3:application>
</assembly>

but when I view the manifest (for example using Kenny Kerr's Manifest View) the application, windowsSettings and dpiAware tags are seemingly duplicated:

 <assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
... general properties ...
     <asmv3:application xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
        <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings"&gt;
          <dpiAware>true</dpiAware> 
        </asmv3:windowsSettings>
     </asmv3:application>
     <asmv3:application xmlns:asmv3="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
         <asmv3:windowsSettings xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/SMI/2005/WindowsSettings"&gt;
          <dpiAware>true</dpiAware> 
         </asmv3:windowsSettings>
     </asmv3:application>
  </assembly>

Any idea why this happens, and would it cause any problems?

Answer 1

After doing an awful lot of experiments and trying various versions of mt.exe to embed the manifest as suggested on some sites, I noticed a pattern; in all the samples I saw, the manifest filename seemed to always match the project or executable name, but with a '.manifest' appended.

My manifest filename did not totally match, so I rename it to match the Visual Studio project name for my application. I also changed the 'Additional Manifest Files' option in the Manifest Tool properties to, '$(ProjectDir)$(ProjectName).manifest', rather than my previous hardcoded filename.

Together, these changes worked and provided me with an executable with a correctly embedded manifest.