Asp.net 5 Web Application startup exception after successful publish

Question

I have an Asp.net 5 web application that works and runs fine in development (from Visual Studio or VS code I can launch no problem). However, after successfully publishing the app, when trying to launch the website with "web.cmd" the following error appears and prevents the website from ever loading:

Application startup exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'my-ng2-website' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
File name: 'my-ng2-website' ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: The system cannot find the file specified. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070002)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.nLoadFile(String path, Evidence evidence)
   at System.Reflection.Assembly.LoadFile(String path)
   at Microsoft.Dnx.Runtime.Loader.LoadContext.LoadFile(String assemblyPath)
   at Microsoft.Dnx.Runtime.Loader.PackageAssemblyLoader.Load(AssemblyName assemblyName, IAssemblyLoadContext loadContext)
   at Microsoft.Dnx.Runtime.Loader.PackageAssemblyLoader.Load(AssemblyName assemblyName)
   at Microsoft.Dnx.Host.LoaderContainer.Load(AssemblyName assemblyName)
   at Microsoft.Dnx.Host.DefaultLoadContext.LoadAssembly(AssemblyName assemblyName)
   at Microsoft.Dnx.Runtime.Loader.AssemblyLoaderCache.GetOrAdd(AssemblyName name, Func`2 factory)
   at Microsoft.Dnx.Runtime.Loader.LoadContext.LoadAssemblyImpl(AssemblyName assemblyName)
   at Microsoft.Dnx.Runtime.Loader.LoadContext.ResolveAssembly(Object sender, ResolveEventArgs args)
   at System.AppDomain.OnAssemblyResolveEvent(RuntimeAssembly assembly, String assemblyFullName)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks)
   at System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks)
   at System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(AssemblyName assemblyRef)
   at Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting.Startup.StartupLoader.FindStartupType(String startupAssemblyName, IList`1 diagnosticMessages)
   at Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting.Internal.HostingEngine.EnsureStartup()
   at Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting.Internal.HostingEngine.EnsureApplicationServices()
   at Microsoft.AspNet.Hosting.Internal.HostingEngine.BuildApplication()

I have searched high and low for solutions. I can't figure out what dependency I am missing. I've tried

deleting the package.lock.json

dnu restore

Here is my dnx config setting for the project:

Here is the settings for the publish:

Can anyone read these tea leaves?

Answer 1

Good day. We had few encounters with this type of error. It often times points to a missing assembly (the most common one). Checking all necessary references, set to Copy Local -> true, helps most of the time. Since assemblies/references wont be included in the publish if its set to Copy Local -> false.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Just for the heck of it, I set the "Compile source files into Nuget Package" to false. And now it works.

Why it works, I don't know. But hopefully this will help someone else.