GAC Assembly Missing in Add Reference dialog

Question

I have an Interop assembly lying in GAC; Windows Explorer clearly shows it listed in the C:\WINDOWS\assembly folder. Yet, when I try to add a reference to it in from Visual Studio, I can't see it anywhere in the Add Reference dialog.

If this is happened to you too, what is the reason for this? And how do I fix this?

(The assembly is actually located in C:\WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_MSIL folder, if you must know.)

Answer 1

"C:\WINDOWS\assembly" is a special folder which in Windows Explorer will list the assemblies (and the assembly info) within the various sub-folders.

For your case, you might need to point it to the physical path which is "C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL.....dll" within VS.NET.

Answer 2

Add one of the following registry keys, where is the directory to search, and MyAssemblies is the category of your assemblies. Note HKCU is for the current user and HKLM is for everyone on the same computer.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\<version>\AssemblyFoldersEx\MyAssemblies]@="<AssemblyLocation>"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\.NETFramework\<version>\AssemblyFoldersEx\MyAssemblies]@="<AssemblyLocation>"

Answer 3

As other's have pointed out, simply installing an assembly in GAC doesn't ensure it'll show up in the Add Reference Dialog Box. I've found this MSDN page that has the details. See the section To display an assembly in the Add Reference dialog box.

Answer 4

Use this command under Visual studio command prompt

regsvr32 /u shfusion.dll

Answer 5

Hi,

I've created a tool that will help you to achieve your goal. Muse VSReferences will allow you to add a Global Assembly Cache reference to the project from Add GAC Reference menu item.

Regards Muse VSExtensions