Getting TypeInitializationException in VS2012, But Not 2010

Question

I am getting a TypeInitializationException when I try to debug my application in Visual Studio 2012, but I am able to run the application in Visual Studio 2010 without error.

I recently moved a bunch of stuff around (including my project and several references) in order to get it into a version control system. I had to relink several items so that everything would link correctly when checked out on a different system.

Our development environment is mixed (VS2010 & VS2012). Running out of VS2010 produced no errors. But when I ran the Debug in VS2012 I received the TypeInitializationException exception.

The project in the original directory (where it resided before moving for version control purposes) still runs fine in both VS2010 and VS2012.

There is a flag or a parameter or something that got a little messed up somewhere, but I'm not sure where. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to get this to work in VS2012 as well?

(please let me know what, if any, code or config information to include here)

InnerException:

The type initializer for 'System.Windows.Navigation.BaseUriHelper' threw an exception.

(Second) InnerException:

The type initializer for 'MS.Internal.TraceDependencyProperty' threw an exception.

There's another inner exception. If you walk down the "InnerException" of your exception to the first one that is not a "The type initializer..threw an exception", what is it? — vcsjones, Nov 29 '12 at 18:54
Question updated again... also answered the question, as this sparked further searches and a result. — Nicholas Pappas, Nov 29 '12 at 19:07
Crazy stuff, love to know the real reason. We'll have to wait for a better stack trace. — Hans Passant, Nov 29 '12 at 22:47

score 10 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

Comments on the original question sparked further searches, which ultimately yielded a solution.

Doing a search for "The type initializer for 'System.Windows.Navigation.BaseUriHelper' threw an exception." I found the following StackOverflow question: WPF Application fails on startup with TypeInitializationException

Similar to that question I had added a <startup> </startup> block to my "app.config" file. Where this tag block was placed made the difference:

Causes Error in VS2012:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">
        <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Profile=Client" />
    </startup>
    <configSections>
       ...
    </configSections>
    <applicationSettings>
       ...
    </applicationSettings>
</configuration>

Everything works fine:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<configuration>
    <configSections>
       ...
    </configSections>
    <applicationSettings>
       ...
    </applicationSettings>
    <startup useLegacyV2RuntimeActivationPolicy="true">
        <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0,Profile=Client" />
    </startup>
</configuration>

Moving the tag block to the bottom did the trick!

OMG, thanks for the informative message Microsoft - that is 4 hours of my life I will never get back. — JBrooks, Feb 18 '15 at 19:32
It appears this is happening with VS2015 as well. Worked perfectly. — disappointed in SO leadership, Oct 28 '15 at 15:01
Encounter same issue in VS2013... the order of xml node matters --- is it a bug of Visual Studio? — Lei Yang, Mar 08 '16 at 06:53
It is the order of the that matters - not ; refer to http://stackoverflow.com/a/36923982/2093880 — usefulBee, Apr 28 '16 at 19:41

Getting TypeInitializationException in VS2012, But Not 2010

1 Answers1