OwinHost.exe not working for class library project

Question

I've created a new class library project with the following startup class:

public class Startup
{
    public void Configure(IAppBuilder app)
    {
        app.Run(ctx =>
        {
            ctx.Response.StatusCode = 200;
            ctx.Response.ContentType = "text/plain";
            return ctx.Response.WriteAsync("Hello from Owin");
        });
    }
}

I have the following packages installed:

<packages>
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin" version="2.1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Microsoft.Owin.Host.HttpListener" version="2.1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="Owin" version="1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
  <package id="OwinHost" version="2.1.0" targetFramework="net45" />
</packages>

When I attempt to run owinhost.exe from /bin/debug I get the following error:

Error:  System.EntryPointNotFoundException
  The following errors occurred while attempting to load the app.
 - No assembly found containing an OwinStartupAttribute.
 - No assembly found containing a Startup or [AssemblyName].Startup class.

Do I need to do anything else to get OwinHost.exe to work with a class library project (I had the same issue with a Console application).

Answer 1

If you execute the OwinHost.exe without parameters, the method name needs to be Configuration, not Configure.

Also, execute owinhost.exe under the root path (A.K.A {projectDir}) and output the builds to /bin, not /bin/debug. Of course, these are configurable through switches to OwinHost.exe but this is what it needs if you wanna run it w/o any switches.

More in depth explanation is available here: OWIN Startup Class Detection and here: Good Old F5 Experience With OwinHost.exe on Visual Studio 2013