publishing asp.net website give "Object reference not set to an instance of an object." error

Question

I am getting fed up with this error. I have search all over the web and tried every possible suggestion to this error I could find.

1. delete app_code, build, add files back, publish. (did not work)
2. delete temporary asp.net files (did not work)

In the end I even tried the command line and get the following stacktrace.

error ASPRUNTIME: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

[NullReferenceException]: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CopyPrecompiledFile(VirtualFile vfile,
 String destPhysicalPath)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CopyStaticFilesRecursive(VirtualDirect
ory sourceVdir, String destPhysicalDir, Boolean topLevel)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CopyStaticFilesRecursive(VirtualDirect
ory sourceVdir, String destPhysicalDir, Boolean topLevel)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CopyStaticFilesRecursive(VirtualDirect
ory sourceVdir, String destPhysicalDir, Boolean topLevel)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileAppInternal(VirtualPath star
tingVirtualDir)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileApp(VirtualPath startingVirt
ualDir)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileApp(ClientBuildManagerCallba
ck callback)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManagerHost.PrecompileApp(ClientBuildManagerCa
llback callback)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManagerHost.PrecompileApp(ClientBuildManagerCa
llback callback)
   at System.Web.Compilation.ClientBuildManager.PrecompileApplication(ClientBuil
dManagerCallback callback, Boolean forceCleanBuild)
   at System.Web.Compilation.ClientBuildManager.PrecompileApplication(ClientBuil
dManagerCallback callback)
   at System.Web.Compilation.Precompiler.Main(String[] args)

I used the following command line:

aspnet_compiler.exe -p d:\code\websites\brokerweb -v / d:\code\websites\published -f -c -errorstack -u

Answer 1

In Visual Studio 2017, none of the solutions given here worked for me. I was able to solve the problem by the following steps:

1. Exit Visual Studio if its running
2. Open Visual Studio Installer from the start menu
3. Under the Installed tab, it will display the version of Visual Studio on your computer
4. Click the More option and select Repair
5. After the repair operation is complete, relaunch your project in Visual Studio
6. Now you shouldn't get this error when you click Publish

Answer 2

make sure you are not publishing directly on virtual directory. if yes, stop the site then publish then restart the site.

Answer 3

I had the same problem when I tried to publish my webservice. The problem was that the PrecompiledApp.config file that gets created when you publish your website to a directory was some how added to my project. With that added, it caused the error.

The resolution: I deleted the file from my project tree in Visual Studio and then I was able to publish the webservice again with the precompiled settings enabled/checked.

Answer 4

Again, this is an old post, but I had the following:

VS2012 asp.net web forms app -> upgraded to VS2013

Try to publish - get same error as OP.

When I finally figured it out, the problem was caused by one thing:

when I looked into the membership providers in web.config, one item was missing the connectionStringName attribute:

bad:

<membership defaultProvider="SomeMembershipProvider">
  <providers>
    <clear />
    <add name="SomeMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider" passwordFormat="Encrypted" applicationName="SomeAppName"  />
    <add connectionStringName="SomeConnectionString" enablePasswordRetrieval="false" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="true" applicationName="/SomeAppName" requiresUniqueEmail="false" blaw blaw blaw />
  </providers>
</membership>

good:

<membership defaultProvider="SomeMembershipProvider">
  <providers>
    <clear />
    <add name="SomeMembershipProvider" connectionStringName="PerhapsSomeOtherConnectionString" type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider" passwordFormat="Encrypted" applicationName="SomeAppName"  />
    <add connectionStringName="SomeConnectionString" enablePasswordRetrieval="false" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="true" applicationName="/SomeAppName" requiresUniqueEmail="false" blaw blaw blaw />
  </providers>
</membership>

I'm not sure why one of the connectionStringName attributes was stripped out, or even if it was ever there, but you can turn this error on and off with this one setting.

Answer 5

In my case, clearing cookies resolved the issue.

The StackTrace had mentioned some authorization and cookies thing. I opened the web application in InCognito mode (which do not persist cookie store) and found the app working.

Hope it helps somebody.

Answer 6

I know this is an old post, but just in case someone will find this usefull:

The cause of this problem for me was the McAfee anti-virus

ASPNETCOMPILER(0,0): Error ASPRUNTIME: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

Answer 7

This error was occurring for me when I tried to compile the project with MSBUILD - it would build fine within Visual Studio, and would even Debug in my local browser. The Publish option within VS worked, as well. But the command-line MSBUILD was causing the project to error out every time.

I managed to fix this problem in VS 2012 by opening the Property Pages on my Website, opening the 'MSBuild Options' tab, and unchecking the 'Allow this precompiled site to be updatable' option, then hitting 'save all'.

Answer 8

Deleting all the *.compiled files from Bin folder of the website works for me. :)

These files are safe to delete and are created during precompilation. For more info check this MSDN link.

Answer 9

I had a similar issue. The application would build and run in the IDE, but fail to publish; conking out at the 'merge dll into single assembly' stage. After researching aspnet_merge.exe I found that the issue was resolved by unchecking the 'emit debug information' checkbox in the publish options.

It may not be a 'clean' fix for the issue, but it's a workaround.

Hope this helps.

Andrew

Answer 10

I have recently encountered this Error. As @samiz mentioned above, First of all, you need to delete all *.dll.Refresh after that build and publish your website. However, sometimes, as happen for me, when you have deleted *.dll.refresh, then publish your website, Error reminds as usual. I have done a lot of tests, but nothing changes.

I also create a new folder and copy all *.dlls which I need for my website. Next, delete all *.dll inside Bin folder then add them by one.

Finally, I re-start My PC, and then I try to publish my website. Believe me or not, it works fine and no error occurred.

Answer 11

upgrade your Visual Studio to VS 2013. it solved the issue for me. :)

Answer 12

I had the same experience and removing the compressed flag from the solution directory tree, set the compiler working again.

Answer 13

I had a similar problem when compiling views in MVC WebApplication. NullReferenceException was thrown only when building solution inside VS or MSBuild. Running aspnet_compiler.exe from command line was without errors.

error ASPRUNTIME: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

[NullReferenceException]: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at System.Web.Compilation.DiskBuildResultCache.CacheBuildResult(String cacheKey, BuildResult result, Int64 hashCode, DateTime utcStart)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CacheBuildResultInternal(String cacheKey, BuildResult result, Int64 hashCode, DateTime utcStart)
   at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.CacheAssemblyResults(AssemblyBuilder assemblyBuilder, CompilerResults results)
   at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.CompileAssemblyBuilder(AssemblyBuilder builder)
   at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.<CompileNonDependentBuildProviders>b__0(AssemblyBuilder assemblyBuilder)
   at System.Web.Compilation.CompilationUtil.CompileParallel(ICollection assemblyBuilders, Action`1 action)
   at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.CompileNonDependentBuildProviders(ICollection buildProviders)
   at System.Web.Compilation.WebDirectoryBatchCompiler.Process()
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.BatchCompileWebDirectoryInternal(VirtualDirectory vdir, Boolean ignoreErrors)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.BatchCompileWebDirectory(VirtualDirectory vdir, VirtualPath virtualDir, Boolean ignoreErrors)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileWebDirectoriesRecursive(VirtualDirectory vdir, Boolean topLevel)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileWebDirectoriesRecursive(VirtualDirectory vdir, Boolean topLevel)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileAppInternal(VirtualPath startingVirtualDir, IEnumerable`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileApp(VirtualPath startingVirtualDir, IEnumerable`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.PrecompileApp(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback, IEnumerable`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManagerHost.PrecompileApp(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback, List`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
   at System.Web.Compilation.BuildManagerHost.PrecompileApp(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback, List`1 excludedVirtualPaths)
   at System.Web.Compilation.ClientBuildManager.PrecompileApplication(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback, Boolean forceCleanBuild)
   at System.Web.Compilation.ClientBuildManager.PrecompileApplication(ClientBuildManagerCallback callback)
   at System.Web.Compilation.Precompiler.Main(String[] args)

After a day of looking for answers on web and discovering with ProcessMonitor, I found out that it was happening when compiler tried to compile ReportService.svc file. If this file was deleted or extension renamed, everything compiled just fine. Very strange resolution fixed problem of compiling svc files. A few days ago I turned on ntfs compression on this project to save some space. And this was the only problem. When ntfs compression attribute was removed from website folder, NullReferenceException problem was resolved.

Answer 14

This typically happens when a *.dll.refresh file in the bin directory points to a location that is no longer available. Deleting the *.dll.refresh files should resolve the issue.