[🐛 Bug]: [PowerShell] .NET Framework 4.8: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Text.Json, Version=8.0.0.0

[Zian]

Description

When attempting to use WebDriver.dll, PowerShell displays the following message:

Could not load file or assembly 'System.Text.Json, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

This issue is being submitted as requested by nvborisenko in a comment on a related issue (#14600).

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

Obtain a computer with the required Windows applications:

1. Obtain a computer with Windows PowerShell 5.1 (e.g. Windows 11).
2. Launch Windows PowerShell.
3. Copy the following command to the Windows PowerShell window and run the command.
   [System.Runtime.InteropServices.RuntimeInformation]::FrameworkDescription
4. Confirm that you see something like ".NET Framework 4.8.9310.0". The text after "4.8." can be ignored.
5. Close Windows PowerShell.

Get the NuGet package:

1. Go to https://www.nuget.org/api/v2/package/Selenium.WebDriver/4.38.0.
2. (optional) Click on "Frameworks". The web page will say that .NET Framework 4.8 and .NET Framework 4.8.1 are "Compatible target framework(s)".
3. Download the package by clicking on "Download package".
4. Create a new folder for the files that will be obtained in the following step. This will be called the "Working Directory".

Get the Selenium files for .NET Framework 4.8:

1. Change the download's file extension to "zip" and open the file.
2. Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a new folder.
3. Open the folder that was created in the previous step.
4. Open the "lib" folder.
5. Open the "netstandard2.0" folder. Microsoft says the files in this folder should work with .NET Framework 4.8 (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/net-standard?tabs=net-standard-2-0).
6. Copy all the files in the "netstandard2.0" folder to the Working Directory.
7. Return to the folder that was created at step 2.
8. Open the "runtimes" folder.
9. Open the "win" folder.
10. Open the "native" folder.
11. Copy the contents of the "native" folder to the Working Directory.
12. Confirm that the root of the Working Directory contains at least 1 "EXE" file and at least 1 "DLL" file.
13. (Optional) Delete the two ZIP files.

Tell Selenium where to find Selenium Manager as documented at https://www.selenium.dev/documentation/selenium_manager/#configuration:

1. Launch Windows PowerShell 5.1.
2. Copy the following script and paste it in the window. Then run the script. The script will determine if the environment variable has been already configured.

	$SeleniumManagerPathEnvironmentVariablePath = Join-Path `
        -Path "Env:" `
        -ChildPath "SE_MANAGER_PATH"
	$ParametersToTestSeleniumManager = @{
		Path        =
		$SeleniumManagerPathEnvironmentVariablePath
		ErrorAction ="SilentlyContinue"
	}
	$SeleniumManager = Get-Item `
		@ParametersToTestSeleniumManager
	if ($null -eq $private:seleniumManager) {
		Write-Output "The Selenium Manager Path environment variable has not been set."
	}
	else {
		Write-Warning "The Selenium Manager Path environment variable is set to `"$($SeleniumManager)`"."
		Write-Warning "This might not be the correct path."
	}

3. If PowerShell reports that the environment variable has not been set, copy the following script and paste it in the window. Then run the script. The script will set the variable:

	# Will not persist after the PowerShell window closes
	# per
	# https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsoft.powershell.core/about/about_environment_variables?view=powershell-7.4#saving-changes-to-environment-variables
	# .
	# However, it will persist in the PowerShell window
	# even after the script terminates.
	$SeleniumManagerPath = Read-Host -Prompt "What is the path of the Selenium Manager file? Include the file extension. Do not include quotation marks around the path."
	New-Item -Path "Env:" `
		-Name "SE_MANAGER_PATH" `
		-Value $SeleniumManagerPath |
		Out-Null

4. Copy the script from the section titled "Reproducible Code" to the PowerShell window. Run the script.

System Information

Microsoft Windows Version 22H2 (OS Build 19045.6456)

Output From $PSVersionTable in PowerShell:

Name                           Value
----                           -----
PSVersion                      5.1.19041.6456
PSEdition                      Desktop
PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}
BuildVersion                   10.0.19041.6456
CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000
WSManStackVersion              3.0
PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3
SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1

Reproducible Code

$WorkingDirectoryPath = Read-Host -Prompt "Enter the full path of the Working Directory. Do not use quotation marks."
$WebDriverPath = Join-Path -Path $WorkingDirectoryPath -ChildPath "WebDriver.dll"
Import-Module $WebDriverPath

---

ℹ️ Last known working version: The file properties for the working version of WebDriver.dll says its file version is "4.0.0.0". Its Product version is "4".

[selenium-ci]

@Zian, thank you for creating this issue. We will troubleshoot it as soon as we can.

Selenium Triage Team: remember to follow the Triage Guide

[nvborisenko]

@Zian you also need to put dependencies transitively (System.Text.Json.dll and its dependencies). I quickly gathered the right dependencies for you.

Selenium48.zip - Selenium v4.8 for .NET Framework 4.8

[Zian]

How did you locate the correct DLL to use for each dependency? They don't match the files I received when I downloaded each Nuget package.

#14600 suggests that some sort of assembly redirect is required. Since there are multiple levels of dependencies, it seems the user would have to repeatedly tell the .NET Framework's assembly loader to use name-only loading.

I tried the following and got the same error that I posted in the original description of the issue.

Replace "Get the NuGet package:" and "Get the Selenium files for .NET Framework 4.8:" with these groups of instructions.

Get the NuGet packages:

1. If you are using Windows PowerShell, update your copy of PowerShellGet first by following the instructions at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/gallery/powershellget/update-powershell-51. Close Windows PowerShell afterwards. The next step's web page also links to that address.
   Although some documentation may recommend the use of PSResourceGet instead, that module does not yet have a way to download a Nuget package.
   https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/gallery/powershellget/overview?view=powershellget-3.x says PowerShellGet is still supported.
   If Windows PowerShell says PackageManagement is in use and can't be modified, go to https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/PowerShellGet and get the current version number. Replace CurrentVersionNumber in the following command with the number from the web page. Then, run the command. Update-Module -Name PowerShellGet -RequiredVersion CurrentVersionNumber
2. Use Save-Package (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/packagemanagement/save-package?view=powershellget-2.x&viewFallbackFrom=powershellget-3.x) to download the Selenium.WebDriver Nuget package and its associated dependencies. The script will also extract the contents of each Nuget package.

Save-Package may appear to hang for several minutes before suddenly creating many files in the Working Directory.

$WorkingDirectory = Read-Host -Prompt "What is the path of the Working Directory? Do not include quotation marks."
Save-Package -Name "Selenium.WebDriver" -Path $WorkingDirectory `
	-ProviderName "nuget"
$Packages = Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $WorkingDirectory |
	select-object -expandproperty FullName
foreach ($private:singlePackage in $Packages) {
	$private:newName = [system.io.path]::ChangeExtension($private:singlePackage, "zip")
	$private:newName = Split-Path -Path $private:newName -Leaf
	Rename-Item -LiteralPath $private:singlePackage `
		-NewName $private:newName
}

$Packages = Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $WorkingDirectory
foreach ($private:singlePackage in $Packages) {
	$private:destination = [system.io.path]::GetFileNameWithoutExtension($private:singlePackage.FullName)
	$private:destination = Join-Path -Path $WorkingDirectory `
		-ChildPath $private:destination
	Expand-archive -LiteralPath $private:singlePackage.FullName `
		-DestinationPath $private:destination
}

$FilesToRemove = $Packages | select-object -expandproperty FullName
Remove-Item -Path $FilesToRemove

Get the Selenium files for .NET Framework 4.8:

1. Go to the Working Directory.
2. Open the folder with a name that starts with "Selenium.WebDriver". After the word "WebDriver", there should be a period and a version number.
3. Open the "lib" folder.
4. Open the "netstandard2.0" folder. Microsoft says the files in this folder should work with .NET Framework 4.8 (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/net-standard?tabs=net-standard-2-0).
5. Copy all the files in the "netstandard2.0" folder to the Working Directory.
6. Return to the folder that was created at step 2.
7. Open the "runtimes" folder.
8. Open the "win" folder.
9. Open the "native" folder.
10. Copy the contents of the "native" folder to the Working Directory.
11. Confirm that the root of the Working Directory contains at least 1 "EXE" file and at least 1 "DLL" file.
12. (Optional) Delete the folder you opened at step 2. This may help you avoid opening the folder by mistake later.

Get the files from each of the other folders by performing these steps:

1. Open the folder.
2. Open the "lib" folder.
3. Locate the folder that has files that apply to .NET Framework 4.8. For example, if there are folders named "net462", "netstandard2.0", and "netstandard2.1", select "netstandard2.0". https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/net-standard?tabs=net-standard-2-1 says .NET Standard version 2.1 is not supported by .NET Framework 4.8 and .NET Framework 4.6.2 definitely won't support .NET Framework 4.8.
4. Copy the files to the Working Directory. If the only file is an empty file named ".", do not copy anything.
5. (Optional) Delete the folder you opened at step 1. This may help you avoid opening the folder by mistake later.

[nvborisenko]

This is a continuation of #14600 where we figured out different full assembly name for .NET Framework and netstandard2.0.

• net462 - Full Name:System.Text.Json, Version=8.0.0.5, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51
• netstandard2.0 - Full Name:System.Text.Json, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc7b13ffcd2ddd51

Previously we forced users to use binding redirections, like it is known good way how to resolve assemblies in .NET Framework.

But now we faced a case when user wants to do the same in PowerShell environment. He can still do it, but only globally for host process (manually modify redirects). This is not a good solution. One more option would be let user to resolve assemblies in runtime via AppDomain.CurrentDomain.AssemblyResolve += ..., but it requires additional coding. Plus he should be aware about all transitive dependencies.

The good solution I see for the community would be building Selenium for net462 and include it in NuGet package.

[nvborisenko]

Verified manually, all transitive dependencies support net462, so just putting this target framework will help resolve bindings redirections hell.

@YevgeniyShunevych @RenderMichael @kcamp what do you think?

[YevgeniyShunevych]

Just a note that an extra net462 target framework should increase the .nupkg file size from 12.7 MB to ~14.7 MB.

If this is the most convenient way to handle System.Text.Json dependency issue for .NET Framework, I think, the solution is fine.