Could not load file or assembly 'Google.Apis.Auth, Version=1.51.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=4b01fa6e34db77ab'

Question

I implemented the Google authentication in our website, where the client side is Angular and the backend is .NET C# on IIS. I initiate the process on the client side and get an access token. The token must be forwarded to the .NET-based backend. In the backend, I referred to the Google.Apis.Auth 1.51.0 library as a NuGet package. I validate the token with the tools there. It works perfectly when tested from source in Visual Studio debug mode, but does not work under IIS after I publish a release.

The error message is: "Could not load file or assembly 'Google.Apis.Auth, Version=1.51.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=4b01fa6e34db77ab'."

I checked the dependencies and they are in the local folder with the right versions. (Google.Apis.dll, Google.Apis.Core.dll, Google.Apis.Auth.dll, Google.Apis.Auth.PlatformServices.dll and the Newtonsoft.Json.dll) I tried to read a lot on the net and the general solution is using bindingRedirect. I tried to set the 0.0.0.0-1.51.0.0 range to the new version 1.51.0.0 in the web.config, but it has no effect. Like this:

<runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
        <dependentAssembly>
            <assemblyIdentity name="Google.Apis.Auth" culture="neutral" />
            <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-1.51.0.0" newVersion="1.51.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
</runtime>

I tried to do this with Google.Apis, Google.Apis.Core and Google.Apis.Auth.PlatformServices without any success. I have no namespace in the configuration tag. I tried it with and without the publicKeyToken.

I would like to ask you if you have ever encountered this problem? Do you have any idea what to do? I highly appreciate your help.

Answer 1

Finally we found the problem. We used an automated release process which creates an install package. This tool unfortunately excluded the *.deps.json file which is must be included to use this Google dll. After we include this file, the IIS can load the dll.

Answer 2

I had same issue on our big project. Google nuget references was on library, and this library was loading dynamically. I had tried a few ways to load google dll s but I couldnt accomplish it.

After that, I have added google api , storage etc references into main project and it is working properly now.