Manifest file error for SxS build

Typical error message:

This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect.  Review the manifest file for possible errors.

The above error may occur when trying to run a .NET application which has been built to run side-by-side (SxS).

This is normally because the assembly identity version number in the app.manifest file is incorrect.

One way to find the correct value is to go to the Windows Event Log for Applications and look for a SideBySide error message with a generation time of when the application was launched.

The error message itself will give the version number which Windows was expecting to find in the app.manifest file as below.

If the Event Log does not provide the correct answer then the alternative is to go to the folder containing the executable file for the sample (probably TestDemoButtons-SxS\bin\Debug) and open wgssSTU.dll with a text editor and search for "manifest". You should find a line of text similar to the following:

<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0"><assemblyIdentity name="wgssSTU" type="win32" version="2.4.0.0">

So the version number is 2.4.0.0