Designer can't load reference 'Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms'

Question

I have 2 forms : B inherits of A.

If I add an InputPanel control on B, i have no problem. If I add an InputPanel control on A and B, i have no problem. But if I add an InputPanel control only on A, I'm unable to open the designer for form B.

The erros is :

Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=969db8053d3322ac' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

I read many things about that, and found nothing to solve this. It seems that the designer is unable to load the dll Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms.dll only when the input panel is in base form.

I tried :

• Add the dll in GAC.
• Create a new form (ex: C inherits A)
• Create an empty project

I don't have any problem to compile my project.

Thanks for your time

EDIT : A reboot fix it. I don't know if it's something i did and the reboot.. or only the reboot. Now i can open any form in designer.

Answer 1

I found the solution for that issue.

1. Check in your GAC if Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms v2.0 is already loaded.
2. Uninstall it gagutil.exe /u Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms
3. Install the new version of the assembly (which is required by the designer) gacutil.exe /i "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft.NET\SDK\CompactFramework\v3.5\WindowsCE\Microsoft.Windowsce.Forms.dll"
4. Reboot your computer.

Theses steps should fix the problem.