"ERROR: Unable to update the dependencies of the project. The dependencies for the object ‘NHibernate.Validator.DLL’ cannot be determined."

One of my three Visual Studio 2010 installer projects started failing during the automated build process with this error on a dozen included assemblies.  When the project was built using the Visual Studio IDE the installer would build just fine.  With a little bit of digging and a great deal of screwing around, I found a Microsoft KB article and hotfix for this problem.

After installing the patch – my automated build system is happily compiling the installation project.

I’ve upgraded the solution to 2010.  I’ve done all the refactoring and finished my work.  Everything tests out great in both unit tests and “developers computer” tests.  Just need to get the installer updated and get the pesky “other peoples computers” thing out of the way. 

I’ve updated the pre-requisites on my installer to include .NET 4.0 – rebuilt the installer and boom. 

Error 1001.  Exception occurred while initializing the installation.  System.BadImageFormatException: Could not load file or assembly ‘file:///C:\Program Files\Landor\ … \RADE.Connect.Service.exe’ or one of its dependencies.  This assembly is built by a runtime newer than the currently loaded runtime and cannot be loaded.

After much mucking around I found the hidden property that I needed to change.  I needed to change the .NET version of the .NET Launch Condition.  To find this gem right click on the deployment project in the solution explorer and choose View\Launch Conditions.  Next right click on the “.NET Framework” under “Launch Conditions” and choose “properties”.  In the properties dialog change the Version to be “.NET Framework 4”.

Update 4/20/2010

Don’t forget to edit the .NET version for both Release and Debug configurations.