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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-29T16:22:42+00:00

I am getting a FileNotFoundException on a Windows Forms Application project, with the following

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I am getting a FileNotFoundException on a Windows Forms Application project, with the following message: 

Could not load file or assembly 'System.Drawing, Version=4.0.0.0, 
Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. 
The system cannot find the file specified.

To replicate the problem:

  • Select New, Project, choose .Net Framework 2.0 as the target and pick Windows Forms Application as the project type.
  • On the properties of the form created by default, select a value for the Icon property. Any .ico file will do. This will embed the file on the resx file.
  • Compile and run the application.

When I do this, the program stops on the line this.Icon = ((System.Drawing.Icon)(resources.GetObject("$this.Icon"))); with the following exception:

System.IO.FileNotFoundException was unhandled
  Message=Could not load file or assembly 'System.Drawing, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
  Source=mscorlib
  FileName=System.Drawing, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a

I’m getting this on Visual Studio 2010 SP1, recently installed on Windows 8 Developer Preview. If I change the project properties to target .Net Framework 4, the error goes away.

On the Form1.resx file, I can see that the version of the System.Drawing assembly is explicitly stated as 2.0:

<assembly alias="System.Drawing" name="System.Drawing, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" />

Any ideas?

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I’ve found a possible solution, please try this:

    Open the resx File in the Designer and set the accessmodifier from public to no code generation.

    Edit: there’s a workaround, but very annoying though.

    1. Open Form in Designer and make needed GUI changes. Close designer and save
    2. Compile project and receive RESX compile error (only forms with Imagelist should have this problem)
    3. Double-click resx compile error to open resx file.
    4. Scroll to top of imagestream.
    5. Edit the top line of the Image stream:
      AAEAAAD/////AQAAAAAAAAAMAgAAAFdTeXN0ZW0uV2luZG93cy5Gb3JtcywgVmVyc2lvbj00LjAuMC4w
      TO
      AAEAAAD/////AQAAAAAAAAAMAgAAAFdTeXN0ZW0uV2luZG93cy5Gb3JtcywgVmVyc2lvbj0yLjAuMC4w
    6. Close and save resx file and recompile.

    **NOTE: the only difference are the characters at end “j00LjAuMC4w’ to “j0yLjAuMC4w”
    This needs to be done EVERY TIME you open the form in Designer mode.

    Microsoft says they are going to fix it in the next VS version…

    Source: http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/532584/error-when-compiling-resx-file-seems-related-to-beta2-bug-5252020

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