DLL reference not copying into project bin

Question

Project A references Project B, and Project B references an external DDL (restored using NuGet). The DLL should get copied into Project A's bin folder (along with Project B's DLL):

In my case, when running Project A, I get the following exception thrown:

Could not load file or assembly 'PostSharp, Version=3.2.18.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b13fd38b8f9c99d7' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

The DLL is not being copied into Project A's bin. All other external references from Project B are being copied across just fine, which is what is confusing for me.

Copy Local is set to true for all references involved. Example:

How do I do this?

Note: Using Visual Studio 2013.

Answer 1

The options that I found were to:

• Add a reference to PostSharp in Project A.
• Add dummy code in Project B so that the compiler would detect that the reference is being used.
• Add a build event to force copy the DLL.

I don't like any of the above solutions. They are hacks in my opinion and will only make for a more unmaintainable solution in the long run.

I have fixed the problem by using a common output directory. This seems to be a recommended solution by many. I have also experienced much faster build times. See this Stackoverflow post.

Answer 2

When I ran into this problem it was because I changed a project's name, but did not change the assembly name - it was identical to the assembly name of another project in the solution.

Answer 3

I've added some dummy (unused) code on Project B, making reference to the DLL needed.

Thus, the compiler will guess that it must copy the DLL into project A output.