Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Web.Deployment, Version=9.0.0.0

Question

I have VS 2013 Ultimate. My remote server is IIS 7.5 and enabled for remote deployment. I have installed Web Deploy Tool 2.1 through Web Platform Installer 4.6 and it installed successfully.

When I try to validate connection from to remote server from my local machine on Publish tool, I get following error: "Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Web.Deployment, Version=9.0.0.0, Culture=Neutral, PubliKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35 or one of its dependencies. The system can not find the file specified."

I understand that Microsoft.Web.Deployment.dll is missing from my machine. I installed Web Deployment Tool to install this assembly. But that doesn't solve the issue. The assembly is not reflected in my list of available assemblies to add to my project as reference.

Same question has been answered in other threads. But those are not solving my issue.

Any idea to get around this issue?

Regards, Suraj

Answer 1

Web Deloy 3.5 Solve my problem you can download from Web Deploy 3.5, from http://www.iis.net/downloads/microsoft/web-deploy
Close and reload your project in VS 2013.
try to validate at connection tab Publish your site.

Answer 2

In 2020, I solved this issue like this:

1. Go to References in VS
2. Right Click, then Add Reference
3. Browse to "C:\Program Files\IIS\Microsoft Web Deploy" (it should be installed already, if not, download and install from this link.)
4. Select "Microsoft.Web.Deployment.dll" and add it to the project
5. Don't forget to restart and clean & rebuild your project