Wix 3.7: candle.exe crashes from command line

Question

I downloaded the zipped version of WiX 3.7.

Now, when I try to run candle.exe from command line I get the following error:

System.BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly 'candle.exe' or one of its dependencies. This assembly is built by a runtime newer than the currently loaded runtime and cannot be loaded.

I get the same error even if I don't pass any parameters to candle.exe.

In the same environment, the call works fine if I use the candle.exe from WiX 3.0.

Am I missing something obvious? Should I change any settings?

Answer 1

Yes. Get a newer .NET runtime. The required runtime is 4.0, though I can't find it documented anywhere. One has to be careful when choosing a binary distribution instead of an installer.

You might also be interested in this bug report, which as closed as "expected behavior."