MSTest fails to load dll from network share

Question

I am running MSTest (on a Microsoft Azure VM) to test a DLL which is in a network file share (linked to Azure File Storage).

I get this error -

Could not load file or assembly 'file:///P:\test\bin\mydll.dll' or one of its dependencies. Operation is not supported. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131515)

Answer 1

Solution 1:

xcopy the folder containing the dll and its dependencies from the network share to a local disk and run it from there.

Solution 2:

This solution is preferable because it saves the copy step.

Find the folder that contains MSTest.exe. In my case here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 14.0\Common7\IDE

Open MSTest.exe.config (it should already exist) and add the following line under<runtime> :

<loadFromRemoteSources enabled="true"/>

in context:

<configuration>
   <runtime>
      <loadFromRemoteSources enabled="true"/>
   ...

From: MSDN: <loadFromRemoteSources> element.

Confusingly, it says:

In the .NET Framework 4.5, assemblies on local network shares are run as full trust by default; you do not have to enable the <loadFromRemoteSources> element.

I am targeting .NET 4.5, but I got the error until I enabled loadFromRemoteSources.