Migrating my MVC 3 application to MVC 4 - asp.net-mvc-3

Question

I really do not know what to do, I'm following this article that shows how to migrate my MVC 3 application manually .
I followed all the steps but when running my application the following error occurs:
Server Error in '/' Application.
Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor,
Version=1.0.0.0, 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)
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of
the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more
information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.IO.FileLoadException: Could not load file or
assembly 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=1.0.0.0, 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)
Source Error:
An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the
current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of
the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Assembly Load Trace: The following information can be helpful to
determine why the assembly 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor,
Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35'
could not be loaded.
WRN: Assembly binding logging is turned OFF. To enable assembly bind
failure logging, set the registry value
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog] (DWORD) to 1. Note: There
is some performance penalty associated with assembly bind failure
logging. To turn this feature off, remove the registry value
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion!EnableLog].
Stack Trace:
[FileLoadException: Could not load file or assembly
'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=1.0.0.0, 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)]
Microsoft.Web.Samples.PreApplicationStartCode.Start() +0
[InvalidOperationException: The pre-application start initialization
method Start on type Microsoft.Web.Samples.PreApplicationStartCode
threw an exception with the following error message: Could not load
file or assembly 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=1.0.0.0,
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.Compilation.BuildManager.InvokePreStartInitMethods(ICollection`1
methods) +423
System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods() +306
System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager
appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory
configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters,
PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException) +677
[HttpException (0x80004005): The pre-application start initialization
method Start on type Microsoft.Web.Samples.PreApplicationStartCode
threw an exception with the following error message: Could not load
file or assembly 'System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=1.0.0.0,
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) +9079340
System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +97
System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest
wr, HttpContext context) +256
Version Information: Microsoft .NET Framework Version:4.0.30319;
ASP.NET Version:4.0.30319.237
I looked through the code, but I see no reference to System.Web.WebPages.Razor in version 1.0 version 2.0 only.

Answer 1

Use NuGet and add the package Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc (Microsoft Asp.Net Mvc 4). This should upgrade your references. See:
https://nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.AspNet.Mvc
You will need to upgrade the assembly references in your web.config.
Remove from the root web.config:
<assemblies>
<add assembly="System.Web.Helpers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
<add assembly="System.Web.Mvc, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
<add assembly="System.Web.WebPages, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
</assemblies>
Add to the root web.config:
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Helpers" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.0.0.0" newVersion="4.0.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding>
</runtime>
Views/Web.Config:
Change Razor from 1.0.0.0 to 2.0.0.0:
<configSections>
<sectionGroup name="system.web.webPages.razor" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorWebSectionGroup, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
<section name="host" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.HostSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
<section name="pages" type="System.Web.WebPages.Razor.Configuration.RazorPagesSection, System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" requirePermission="false" />
</sectionGroup>
</configSections>
<host factoryType="System.Web.Mvc.MvcWebRazorHostFactory, System.Web.Mvc, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
<pages validateRequest="false"
pageParserFilterType="System.Web.Mvc.ViewTypeParserFilter, System.Web.Mvc, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
pageBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.ViewPage, System.Web.Mvc, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"
userControlBaseType="System.Web.Mvc.ViewUserControl, System.Web.Mvc, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35">
<controls>
<add assembly="System.Web.Mvc, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" namespace="System.Web.Mvc" tagPrefix="mvc" />
</controls>
</pages>

Answer 2

Did you forget to update the references in Views\Web.Config? The references in it is used to build the view pages.

Answer 3

I assumed you have MVC3 Intranet web application, when upgrade from MVC3 to MVC4 using NuGet, your application now references System.Web.WebPages.Razor Version 2.0.0.0, NOT System.Web.WebPages.Razor Version 1.0.0.0 anymore. Here is my way of resolving the reference.
There are two places to fix:
In the root web.config,
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0">
<assemblies>
. . .
<add assembly="System.Web.WebPages, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
. . .
</assemblies>
</compilation>
change Version=1.0.0.0 to Version=2.0.0.0
So your new reference will look like this:
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0">
<assemblies>
. . .
<add assembly="System.Web.WebPages, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
. . .
</assemblies>
</compilation>
In the Views folder, there is web.config file. Inspecting this file you will see it references Version 1. Replace the whole web.config file in Views folder with a new web.config file. Make a backup of the old web.config file, just in case. To get a brand new web.config for the Views folder, you create a new MVC4 application for intranet. Go to the Views folder. Copy the Web.Config file from the Views folder of the new application to the Views folder of the broken application.
Hope it helps!

Answer 4

Reinstalling the AspNetSprite packages as suggested above does not solve the problem for me. But adding theses lines on the runtime\assemblyBinding section of the root web.config file works :
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages.Razor" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>

Answer 5

Have you globally searched for System.Web.WebPages.Razor, Version=1.0.0.0 in your entire solution? Do you still reference System.Web.WebPages.Razor (Version 1.0.0.0)? Do you reference System.Web.WebPages.Razor Version 2.0.0.0?
[Update] I finally ran into the same issue. It seems like one of the NuGet packages I installed and uninstalled didn't entirely remove the reference to System.Web.Razor it used. Cleaning the solution didn't help because the DLL wasn't used directly by the web application. I finally got it to work by manually deleting the entire bin directory ...

Answer 6

Check the web.config inside your views folder.
UPDATE:
This bit looks suspcious.
Microsoft.Web.Samples.PreApplicationStartCode
Are you referencing any sample application libraries, like MVC futures or anything like that?

Answer 7

My application used a third-party package, the AspNetSprites-MvcAndRazorHelper. Reinstalled this package and the error of the reference was corrected.

Answer 8

This is another Nuget package that u can use to upgrade mvc 3 to mvc 4
https://nuget.org/packages/UpgradeMvc3ToMvc4

Answer 9

this is very simple, when you update to MVC 4.0.0.0 ,but the webconfig in the solution still points to MVC 3.0.0.0.0.
so just replace MVC version 3.0.0.0.0. by 4.0.0.0.0
Do the same with other assemblies, to check the version of assembly , check properties of the respective assembly in references in your project.