Visual Studio Publish Manifest file error

Question

Using clickonce, my VB.Net 2013 app fails to run with a missing manifest file error:
PLATFORM VERSION INFO
 Windows    : 6.2.9200.0 (Win32NT)
 Common Language Runtime  : 4.0.30319.34014
 System.Deployment.dll   : 4.0.30319.34243 built by: FX452RTMGDR
 clr.dll    : 4.0.30319.34014 built by: FX45W81RTMGDR
 dfdll.dll    : 4.0.30319.34243 built by: FX452RTMGDR
 dfshim.dll    : 6.3.9600.16384 (winblue_rtm.130821-1623)
SOURCES
 Deployment url   : withheld
IDENTITIES
 Deployment Identity  : TeeShirt.application, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0d23f3063317ed13, processorArchitecture=msil
APPLICATION SUMMARY
 * Installable application.
ERROR SUMMARY
 Below is a summary of the errors, details of these errors are listed later in the log.
 * Activation of F:\TeeShirt.application resulted in exception. Following failure messages were detected:
  + Downloading   teeshirt.exe.manifest did not succeed.
  + Could not find a part of the path 'F:\Application Files\TeeShirt_1_0_0_0\TeeShirt.exe.manifest'.
  + Could not find a part of the path 'F:\Application Files\TeeShirt_1_0_0_0\TeeShirt.exe.manifest'.
  + Could not find a part of the path 'F:\Application Files\TeeShirt_1_0_0_0\TeeShirt.exe.manifest'.
COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION FAILURE SUMMARY
 No transaction error was detected.
WARNINGS
 There were no warnings during this operation.
OPERATION PROGRESS STATUS
 * [4/17/2015 5:01:20 AM] : Activation of F:\TeeShirt.application has started.
 * [4/17/2015 5:01:26 AM] : Processing of deployment manifest has successfully completed.
 * [4/17/2015 5:01:26 AM] : Installation of the application has started.
ERROR DETAILS
 Following errors were detected during this operation.
 * [4/17/2015 5:01:26 AM] System_Deployment.Application.DeploymentDownloadException (Unknown subtype)
  - Downloading file: Files/TeeShirt_1_0_0_0/TeeShirt.exe.manifest did not succeed.
  - Source: System.Deployment
  - Stack trace:
   at System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadSingleFile(DownloadQueueItem next)
   at System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadAllFiles()
   at System.Deployment.Application.FileDownloader.Download(SubscriptionState subState)
   at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadManifestAsRawFile(Uri& sourceUri, String targetPath, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, ServerInformation& serverInformation)
   at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadApplicationManifest(AssemblyManifest deploymentManifest, String targetDir, Uri deploymentUri, IDownloadNotification notification, DownloadOptions options, Uri& appSourceUri, String&
appManifestPath)
   at System.Deployment.Application.DownloadManager.DownloadApplicationManifest(AssemblyManifest deploymentManifest, String targetDir, Uri deploymentUri, Uri& appSourceUri, String& appManifestPath)
   at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.DownloadApplication(SubscriptionState subState, ActivationDescription actDesc, Int64 transactionId, TempDirectory& downloadTemp)
   at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.InstallApplication(SubscriptionState& subState, ActivationDescription actDesc)
   at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.PerformDeploymentActivation(Uri activationUri, Boolean isShortcut, String textualSubId, String deploymentProviderUrlFromExtension, BrowserSettings browserSettings, String& errorPageUrl)
   at System.Deployment.Application.ApplicationActivator.ActivateDeploymentWorker(Object state)
  --- Inner Exception ---
  System.Net.WebException
  - Could not find a part of the path 'F:\Application Files\TeeShirt_1_0_0_0\TeeShirt.exe.manifest'.
  - Source: System
  - Stack trace:
   at System.Net.FileWebRequest.EndGetResponse(IAsyncResult asyncResult)
   at System.Net.FileWebRequest.GetResponse()
   at System.Deployment.Application.SystemNetDownloader.DownloadSingleFile(DownloadQueueItem next)
  --- Inner Exception ---
  System.Net.WebException
  - Could not find a part of the path 'F:\Application Files\TeeShirt_1_0_0_0\TeeShirt.exe.manifest'.
  - Source: System
  - Stack trace:
   at System.Net.FileWebResponse..ctor(FileWebRequest request, Uri uri, FileAccess access, Boolean asyncHint)
   at System.Net.FileWebRequest.GetResponseCallback(Object state)
  --- Inner Exception ---
  System.IO.DirectoryNotFoundException
  - Could not find a part of the path 'F:\Application Files\TeeShirt_1_0_0_0\TeeShirt.exe.manifest'.
  - Source: mscorlib
  - Stack trace:
   at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)
   at System.IO.FileStream.Init(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, Int32 rights, Boolean useRights, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, SECURITY_ATTRIBUTES secAttrs, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy, Boolean
useLongPath, Boolean checkHost)
   at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, FileOptions options, String msgPath, Boolean bFromProxy)
   at System.IO.FileStream..ctor(String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare share, Int32 bufferSize, Boolean useAsync)
   at System.Net.FileWebStream..ctor(FileWebRequest request, String path, FileMode mode, FileAccess access, FileShare sharing, Int32 length, Boolean async)
   at System.Net.FileWebResponse..ctor(FileWebRequest request, Uri uri, FileAccess access, Boolean asyncHint)
COMPONENT STORE TRANSACTION DETAILS
 No transaction information is available.

Answer 1

Hello,
When did that issue occur? When you publish your application or install?
Based on the error message, it seems that it throws this error when you install that application, right?
If possible, you could share the detailed information of your clickonce application with us, like where you deployed your application, a shared folder or a website, or even a local folder?
To narrow down this issue, you could check whether there is any manifest file inside the published folder.
If not, then you could consider republish it again to see whether it could generate any manifest file.
If so, then you could confirm whether the user have permissions to access that folder to download that file.
Regards,
Carl
We are trying to better understand customer views on social support experience, so your participation in this interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time. Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.
Click
HERE to participate the survey.