Hi,

something you get or load a tool and it won’t start due to a missing Runtime or dll.

Such issues can solved with sxstrace tool. An example:

I want to run the makeappx tool from the Windows SDK on another host. The application won’t start:

D:\> makeappx.exe
The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Please see the application event log or use the command-line sxstrace.exe tool for more detail.
 "D:\temp\makeappx.exe"

Start logging and open another shell and execute the command again

D:\> sxstrace.exe Trace -logfile:D:\temp\sxs.etl
Tracing started. Trace will be saved to file D:\temp\sxs.etl.
Press Enter to stop tracing...

Press enter in the sxstrace windows to stop logging, convert the etl file into a text file and open it with your favourite texteditor.

D:\> sxstrace.exe Parse -logfile:D:\temp\sxs.etl -outfile:D:\temp\SxsTrace.txt
D:\> notepad D:\temp\SxsTrace.txt

In the file you should found some hints what is missing:

...
INFO: End assembly probing.
ERROR: Cannot resolve reference Microsoft.Windows.Build.Appx.AppxPackaging.dll,version="0.0.0.0".
ERROR: Activation Context generation failed
...


Michael