"Activation context generation failed" complaint trying to add an application manifest

Question

I'm trying to add an application manifest that requires elevation to my .NET 2.0 EXE. I've done that for a simple EXE and it worked without any problems, but on this more complex EXE it's not working.

My EXE has a config file and a lot of dependencies of other DLLs in my solution.

When I start the EXE, I get a SideBySide error saying "Activation context generation failed for "C:\MyCompany.MyProduct.WinUI.exe".Error in manifest or policy file "C:\MyCompany.MyProduct.WinUI.exe.Config" on line 1. Invalid Xml syntax."

What does my config file have to do with the manifest file? Here is my manifest:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<asmv1:assembly manifestVersion="1.0" xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1"
                xmlns:asmv1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1"
                xmlns:asmv2="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2"
                xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"&gt;
  <assemblyIdentity version="2.10.0.0" name="MyCompany.MyProduct.WinUI"/>
  <trustInfo xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v2">
    <security>
      <requestedPrivileges xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v3">
        <requestedExecutionLevel level="requireAdministrator" uiAccess="false" />
      </requestedPrivileges>
    </security>
  </trustInfo>
</asmv1:assembly>

Answer 1

You didn't close the asmv1:assembly tag.

Also, try downloading XML Notepad and loading your XML into it. It's very good at telling you what you did wrong.

Answer 2

I found the solution.

The encoding specified in the MyCompany.MyProduct.WinUI.exe.Config is not supported.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>

I changed the encoding to utf-8, and everything work fine...

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>