Could not find file 'c:\windows\Temp\xxxxxx.dll'

Question

We have an ASP.NET web service (net 2.0/3.5) which after a couple of weeks of use gives a message

"System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'c:\windows\Temp\xxxxxx.dll'"

where the filename xxxxxx.dll is a random string which changes on every occurence of the problem.

Once the error happens, even the 'iisreset' command does not fix the problem. A server re-boot fix the issue for couple of weeks. But then it comes again.

I have seen a lot of links where temporary file storage is the problem as a result of XmlSerializer dynamic compilation. Our Web Service code consumes Java web service, other than that, there is no explicit usage of XmlSerializer class.

Any ideas/advice?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

This blog post definitely solved the problem that we were facing (This will describe the problem we were facing). - http://devatheart.azurewebsites.net/2011/04/18/troubleshooting-xmlserializer-failure/

We had this piece of code

System.Diagnostics.Process.Start(RetrievedURL);

which was generating IE processes (Since IE was the default browser on the webserver) in the background on the button click and opening webpage.

Not a smart thing to have but we removed that code and it has definitely stopped the IE processes in the background.

How it is linked to XML Serialization Failure is explained in the above post. Thanks for the research and this blog post Slobodan Stipic, a.k.a. Slobo.

Hope this solution helps others in future.