Question

I am trying to do the following:

if(domain != null)
{
    AppDomain.Unload(domain);
}

domain = AppDomain.CreateDomain(appDomainName);

Assembly assembly = domain.Load(location);

and the code throws FileLoadException

but when i do the following there is no exception :

Assembly assembly = Assembly.LoadFrom(location);

Could you please tell me what could be the problem.

Thank you.

Edited:

The reason I want to load the assembly it because i want to create instance of the class is in it using factory method of it could please suggest a solution

Answer 1

From Suzanne Cook’s .NET CLR Notes:

AppDomain.Load() is only meant to be called on AppDomain.CurrentDomain. (It’s meant for interop callers only. They need a non-static method, and Assembly.Load() is static.) If you call it on a different AppDomain, if the assembly successfully loads in the target appdomain, remoting will then try to load it in the calling appdomain, potentially causing a FileNotFoundException/SerializationException for you.

If you need to execute an exe, use AppDomain.ExecuteAssembly() or (starting in v2.0) AppDomain.ExecuteAssemblyByName() instead. Otherwise, you should change to use Assembly.Load() from within the target appdomain. See Executing Code in Another AppDomain for more info.

See also this SO question.