.net – How to the Wcf Test Client be used without Visual Studio

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When WcfTestClient.exe is copied to another machine by itself, runtime errors prevent you from connecting to a WCF service, for example:

System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or Assembly 'Microsoft.Build.Utilities.Core, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

How can this tool be used without installing Visual Studio?

Best Answer

To run WCFTestClient.exe as a standalone appplication (without install a full version of Visual Studio 2010):

  1. Create a directory in the dest. machine and copy wcftestclient.exe there (only that file).

  2. Copy Microsoft.VisualStudio.VirtualTreeGrid.dll (version 10) from file below to same directory of wcftestclient.exe in the dest. machine.

    C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.VisualStudio.VirtualTreeGrid\v4.0_10.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a

  3. You would create in your destination machine the following two registry keys:

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\WinSDK-NetFx40Tools-x64]
"InstallationFolder"="\"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\WinSDK-NetFx40Tools-x86]
"InstallationFolder"="\"

    Step note: You could export them from your development machine (maybe you could find another version, but please try with v7.0A first).

  4. Then you will need copy from: 

    C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools\svcutil.exe

    to your destination machine (same directory as wcftestclient.exe)

    Step note: Is important this version of svcutil.exe

  5. Run wcftestclient.exe

Final notes: You will need only two .exe files and one .dll (wcftestclient.exe, svcutil.exe and Microsoft.VisualStudio.VirtualTreeGrid.dll) to run the application.

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