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H Since the .NET tab in the "Add Reference ..." dialog does not show the assemblies form the GAC what is the common best practise to add a reference to an assembly that was installed in GAC to my visual studio project?

bitbonk
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  • Are you sure your assembly isn't showing up in the '.NET' tab on the add-references dialog? – Will Dean Jan 14 '11 at 10:53
  • You may need to restart VS after installing the assemblies in the GAC, as new assemblies may not show in the list. – Oded Jan 14 '11 at 10:54
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    Yes it is a commonly fallacy to think the "Add reference" dialog retrieves its assembly list form the GAC. This is not true, it gets it from some registry keys and special folders. – bitbonk Jan 14 '11 at 10:55

2 Answers2

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This article mentions the registry keys which you can modify to directly show the assemblies from GAC http://weblogs.asp.net/jdanforth/archive/2003/12/16/43841.aspx

How can I reference a dll in the GAC from Visual Studio?

Community
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Madhur Ahuja
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"Add Reference..." dialog modifies your project file (for example .csproj for C#). It is simple msbuild file. To add reference to your project you should modify node: Reference

<Reference Include="System.Data.Services">
  <RequiredTargetFramework>3.5</RequiredTargetFramework>
</Reference>
Dao
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