EntityFramework error: The provider did not return a ProviderManifest instance

Question

My project is using ASP.NET MVC4, in C# with Visual Studio 2012 for Web Express.

When compiling my project, I have the following error:

The provider did not return a ProviderManifest instance. Could not determine storage version; a valid storage connection or a version hint is required.

After many hours of search I believe that is error is somehow related to Entity Framework. I also found a work around for this error here: http://forums.devart.com/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=25748

The workaround suggests that I change the field ProviderManifestToken="2012" to ProviderManifestToken="2008" in my .edmx file.

After doing that the error goes away. But then I have another problem when I run the project, a runtime error:

Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Data.Edm' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

=== Pre-bind state information ===
LOG: DisplayName = Microsoft.Data.Edm
(Partial)
WRN: Partial binding information was supplied for an assembly:
WRN: Assembly Name: Microsoft.Data.Edm | Domain ID: 2
WRN: A partial bind occurs when only part of the assembly display name is provided.
WRN: This might result in the binder loading an incorrect assembly.
WRN: It is recommended to provide a fully specified textual identity for the assembly,
WRN: that consists of the simple name, version, culture, and public key token.
WRN: See whitepaper http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=109270 for more information and common solutions to this issue.
LOG: Appbase = file:///C:/Users/Pedro/Documents/Visual Studio 2012/Projects/Dockis/Development/Dockis/Dockis/
LOG: Initial PrivatePath = C:\Users\Pedro\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\Dockis\Development\Dockis\Dockis\bin
Calling assembly : (Unknown).

LOG: This bind starts in default load context.
LOG: Using application configuration file: C:\Users\Pedro\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\Dockis\Development\Dockis\Dockis\web.config
LOG: Using host configuration file: C:\Users\Pedro\Documents\IISExpress\config\aspnet.config
LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\config\machine.config.

LOG: Policy not being applied to reference at this time (private, custom, partial, or location-based assembly bind).
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v4.0.30319/Temporary ASP.NET Files/vs/78aa89a1/af9f01eb/Microsoft.Data.Edm.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v4.0.30319/Temporary ASP.NET Files/vs/78aa89a1/af9f01eb/Microsoft.Data.Edm/Microsoft.Data.Edm.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Users/Pedro/Documents/Visual Studio 2012/Projects/Dockis/Development/Dockis/Dockis/bin/Microsoft.Data.Edm.DLL.
LOG: Using application configuration file: C:\Users\Pedro\Documents\Visual Studio 2012\Projects\Dockis\Development\Dockis\Dockis\web.config
LOG: Using host configuration file: C:\Users\Pedro\Documents\IISExpress\config\aspnet.config
LOG: Using machine configuration file from C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\config\machine.config.
LOG: Redirect found in application configuration file: 5.6.0.0 redirected to 5.6.1.0.
LOG: Post-policy reference: Microsoft.Data.Edm, Version=5.6.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v4.0.30319/Temporary ASP.NET Files/vs/78aa89a1/af9f01eb/Microsoft.Data.Edm.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v4.0.30319/Temporary ASP.NET Files/vs/78aa89a1/af9f01eb/Microsoft.Data.Edm/Microsoft.Data.Edm.DLL.
LOG: Attempting download of new URL file:///C:/Users/Pedro/Documents/Visual Studio 2012/Projects/Dockis/Development/Dockis/Dockis/bin/Microsoft.Data.Edm.DLL.
WRN: Comparing the assembly name resulted in the mismatch: Build Number
ERR: Failed to complete setup of assembly (hr = 0x80131040). Probing terminated.

Stack Trace:

[FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Data.Edm' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)]

[FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Data.Edm, Version=5.6.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)]
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly._nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) +0
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.nLoad(AssemblyName fileName, String codeBase, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly locationHint, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) +34
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoadAssemblyName(AssemblyName assemblyRef, Evidence assemblySecurity, RuntimeAssembly reqAssembly, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean throwOnFileNotFound, Boolean forIntrospection, Boolean suppressSecurityChecks) +152
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, IntPtr pPrivHostBinder, Boolean forIntrospection) +77
   System.Reflection.RuntimeAssembly.InternalLoad(String assemblyString, Evidence assemblySecurity, StackCrawlMark& stackMark, Boolean forIntrospection) +16
   System.Reflection.Assembly.Load(String assemblyString) +28
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective) +38

[ConfigurationErrorsException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Data.Edm, Version=5.6.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)]
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssemblyHelper(String assemblyName, Boolean starDirective) +752
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAllAssembliesFromAppDomainBinDirectory() +218
   System.Web.Configuration.CompilationSection.LoadAssembly(AssemblyInfo ai) +130
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetReferencedAssemblies(CompilationSection compConfig) +170
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.GetPreStartInitMethodsFromReferencedAssemblies() +91
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods(String preStartInitListPath, Boolean& isRefAssemblyLoaded) +285
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.ExecutePreAppStart() +153
   System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException) +521

[HttpException (0x80004005): Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Data.Edm, Version=5.6.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)]
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +9950728
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +101
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) +254

Dockis is the name of the project. After seeing this error I spent several hours believing that the errors lied somewhere in the versions of the package being used. However, this does not seem to be the case, since the majority of packages are up to date and there doesn't seem to be any conflicts between them.

Consequently, I am back to believing that the problem lies with the version of EntityFramework, but I am out of ideas on how to fix this.

I'm all ears, if you have any suggestions, I'll appreciate them.

Answer 1

Download http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=40762 and update Nuget EF to 6.1.3 and everything will work just fine.

Answer 2

Aparently, the problem was the Visual studio version that I was using. Mind blowing if you ask me. After removing Visual Studio Web Express 2012 and installing Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate everything started working as it should.

Answer 3

Replacing 2012 with 2008 in ProviderManifestToken="2012" in the .edmx file worked for me.

1. Replace 2012 with 2008 in ProviderManifestToken="2012"
2. Save the .edmx file
3. Clean and rebuild solution