Licenses.licx is not a valid Win32 application

Category: Troubleshooting & error messages
Date: 20 May 2009
Product: SQL Comparison SDK
Versions: 3,4,5,6,7.1*
Platform: 64-bit editions of Windows
Fix version: SDK 7.0 assemblies are compiled as "Any CPU" and should not encounter this issue

When compiling a Toolkit application in Visual Studio 2005 on a 64-bit operating system, a BadImageFormatException is thrown indicating that Licenses.licx is not a valid Win32 application.

The root of the issue is that the licence compiler (lc.exe) that is part of the Framework comes in a 32-bit and a 64-bit version. When compiling a Toolkit application on a 64-bit OS, the 64-bit lc.exe is invoked, leading to the exception message.

You can work around this by setting pre and post-build events to control the compilation of the licence. This, in addition to choosing the target CPU as 32-bit, will allow your project to compile and licence successfully. In VS 2005, right-click the project and select properties. Next, click 'Build Events'.
Set a new pre-build event:
c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\Ldr64.exe setwow
Set a new post-build event:
c:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\Ldr64 set64

Note that the paths may differ based on the installation folder of your .NET Framework.

*NB this error will also happen in version 7.1, but only when RedGate.BackupReader.dll is used. This DLL will only run properly in a 32-bit environment, so referencing this DLL in your project will require you to compile it specifically for x86.

Document ID: KB200701000007 Keywords: BadImageFormatException,"Not a Valid Win32 application"

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