Manifest may not be valid or the file could not be opened.

Question

I know it is a very commonly faced problem. But, there is a slight difference, my WPF installs perfectly and runs on Windows 7 and Windows 8 OSes. But, when tried to install on a VM running Windows XP, it gives the following Error:

Cannot continue. The application is improperly formatted. Details:

PLATFORM VERSION INFO

Windows             : 5.1.2600.196608 (Win32NT)
    Common Language Runtime     : 4.0.30319.1
    System.Deployment.dll       : 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
    clr.dll             : 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
    dfdll.dll           : 4.0.30319.1 (RTMRel.030319-0100)
    dfshim.dll          : 4.0.31106.0 (Main.031106-0000)

SOURCES
    Deployment url          : file:///S:/K3FrontEnd_NET4/Karacell3.application

ERROR SUMMARY

Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed later in the log.

* Activation of S:\K3FrontEnd_NET4\Karacell3.application resulted in exception. Following failure messages were detected:
        + Exception reading manifest from file:///S:/K3FrontEnd_NET4/Karacell3.application: the manifest may not be valid or the file could not be opened.
        + Manifest XML signature is not valid.
        + SignatureDescription could not be created for the signature algorithm supplied.

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION FAILURE SUMMARY
    No transaction error was detected.

WARNINGS
    There were no warnings during this operation.

OPERATION PROGRESS STATUS
    * [4/3/2013 2:58:13 PM] : Activation of S:\K3FrontEnd_NET4\Karacell3.application has started.

ERROR DETAILS
    Following errors were detected during this operation.
    * [4/3/2013 2:58:14 PM] System.Deployment.Application.InvalidDeploymentException (ManifestParse)
        - Exception reading manifest from file:///S:/K3FrontEnd_NET4/Karacell3.application: the manifest may not be valid or the file could not be opened.
        - Source: System.Deployment
        - Stack trace:
            at System.Deployment.Application.ManifestReader.FromDocument(String localPath, ManifestType manifestType, Uri sourceUri)
            at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestDirectBypass(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile, SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, ServerInformation& serverInformation)
            at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadDeploymentManifestBypass(SubscriptionStore subStore, Uri& sourceUri, TempFile& tempFile, SubscriptionState& subState, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivation(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.ActivateDeploymentWorker(Object state)
        --- Inner Exception ---
        System.Deployment.Application.InvalidDeploymentException (SignatureValidation)
        - Manifest XML signature is not valid.
        - Source: System.Deployment
        - Stack trace:
            at System.Deployment.Application.Manifest.AssemblyManifest.ValidateSignature(Stream s)
            at System.Deployment.Application.ManifestReader.FromDocument(String localPath, ManifestType manifestType, Uri sourceUri)
        --- Inner Exception ---
        System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException
        - SignatureDescription could not be created for the signature algorithm supplied.
        - Source: System.Security
        - Stack trace:
            at System.Security.Cryptography.Xml.SignedXml.CheckSignedInfo(AsymmetricAlgorithm key)
            at System.Security.Cryptography.Xml.SignedXml.CheckSignature(AsymmetricAlgorithm key)
            at System.Security.Cryptography.Xml.SignedXml.CheckSignatureReturningKey(AsymmetricAlgorithm& signingKey)
            at System.Deployment.Internal.CodeSigning.SignedCmiManifest.Verify(CmiManifestVerifyFlags verifyFlags)
            at System.Deployment.Application.Manifest.AssemblyManifest.ValidateSignature(Stream s)

COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION DETAILS

No transaction information is available.

• I re-signed the application with a valid key
• I have installed on multiple PCs and it installs and works fine.

Please help me enumerate possible cause of this error.

Answer 1

I was able to solve my issue by removing the signing of the manifest.
If you right-click your project and go to properties then to the Signing Tab; uncheck the Sign the ClickOnce manifests and Sign the assembly.
I'm not sure what this does in terms of security but my app installed after I removed these options.

Answer 2

I had the same issue and it was just the machine didn't have the appropriate .Net version.