Deploying System.Net.Http.dll with ClickOnce

Question

I'm developing an application which is to be deployed with ClickOnce. After downgrading from .NET 4.5 to .NET 4.0 and replacing repairing bad references, now I have problem with deployment package. Some files, most importantly System.Net.Http.dll are not deployed with the application. I've done some checks but can't conclude why exactly this happens. My suspicion is that package is created with expectation that this assembly already exists on target machine. This would be reasonable if target framework was .NET 4.5, but not now that it's .NET 4. Strangely, System.Net.Http.Extensions.dll gets deployed correctly.

Settings and version numbers are same for both files:

References are made to same package:

<Reference Include="System.Net.Http, Version=2.2.13.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
  <HintPath>..\packages\Microsoft.Net.Http.2.2.13\lib\net40\System.Net.Http.dll</HintPath>
  <SpecificVersion>False</SpecificVersion>
</Reference>
<Reference Include="System.Net.Http.Extensions, Version=2.2.13.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
  <SpecificVersion>False</SpecificVersion>
  <HintPath>..\packages\Microsoft.Net.Http.2.2.13\lib\net40\System.Net.Http.Extensions.dll</HintPath>
</Reference>

Target platform is .NET 4, and deployment prerequisite is also .NET 4 and a KB update.

File is not even displayed in Application Files dialog:

Any ideas? I might just try and deploy the assembly as a content file if all else fails. Removing and re-adding the reference did not make a difference.

Answer 1

Posted message by Microsoft on Visual Studio support thread says that:

This will be fixed in the next update to Visual Studio 2013. Till then you will have to use the workaround of adding the assemblies as a link.

so, I found the next resolution (issue 8):

This occurs because ClickOnce fails to deploy certain required assemblies. As a workaround, do the following:

1. Right-click on the project and choose Add Existing Item
2. Browse to the HttpClient net40 package folder
3. In the File name text box enter .
4. Holding CTRL, select System.Net.Http.dll and System.Net.Http.Primitives.dll
5. Click the down-arrow next to the Add button and choose Add as Link
6. In Solution Explorer, holding CTRL select System.Net.Http.dll and System.Net.Http.WebRequest.dll
7. Right-click the selection, choose Properties and change Copy to Output Directory to Copy always
8. Republish

In my case, enough to add only one library System.Net.Http.