Changing C# .dll references from absolute to relative

Question

I have compiled my project and some of my project's added .dlls have absolute references. When I try to run my project on another machine, it looks for the .dlls from the original project path.

How can I make the project look for the .dlls using a relative path?

AFAIK, when you specify an absolute path to the dll, it gets translated to a relative path in the project file, so on other machines the relative path is used... — Armen Tsirunyan, Mar 13 '11 at 17:00
Avoid referencing assemblies that are stored on another drive. — Hans Passant, Mar 13 '11 at 18:20

score 19 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 13 '11 at 17:01

19

Edit the .csproj file and change the <HintPath> elements from absolute paths to relative paths.

answered Mar 13 '11 at 17:01

SLaks

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2

When I was adding DLL references I noticed it automatically used relative paths. In what instances would Visual Studio have used absolute paths? – Ciaran Gallagher Dec 09 '13 at 14:04
8

It uses absolute paths when the assembly you are referencing is above the root of the project. – Jason Kelley Jun 09 '14 at 17:51
I just checked and **even if** the assembly is above the root of the project, VS 2010 adds relative paths automatically. – B Charles H Sep 27 '18 at 11:11

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 13 '11 at 20:48

You may also write your handler for resolving assemblies. In the simplest form it may look like this:

AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += AssemblyResolveHandler;
..
static Assembly AssemblyResolveHandler(object sender, ResolveEventArgs args)
{
  string assemblyPath = "yourpath";
  return Assembly.LoadFrom(assemblyPath + args.Name);
}

Another option is adding entry in App.config:

  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <probing privatePath="yourpath"/>
     </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>

Changing C# .dll references from absolute to relative

2 Answers2

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