Upgrading a C++/CLI project to VS2013 from VS2010

Today, I begin to update an old C++ project to the latest compiler, and while building got this error message:

1>stdafx.cpp : fatal error C1107: could not find assembly 'mscorlib.dll': please specify the assembly search path using /AI or by setting the LIBPATH environment variable

That’s all very well, but it wasn’t obvious what to do.

Here’s how I solved it:

First, I created a new CLR Class Library project with C++, and examined the vcxproj file generated.

I then took my project that wouldn’t build, and right clicked and said, unload project, followed by edit on the same project.

Looking for differences I spotted this:

<TargetFrameworkProfile>Client</TargetFrameworkProfile>

Of course, .NET 4.5 doesn’t support the client profile, and surprise surprise, it now works once I remove that line.

It looks like the VS2013 project upgrade doesn’t quite get this one right.