Extracting dll’s out of the GAC

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Extracting dll’s out of the GAC

June 13th, 2006 // 7:06 pm @

I was recently asked how to reference the Microsoft.SharePoint and few of the other SharePoint dll’s in a project while developing on a non SharePoint machine. The solution is quite simple which we often seem to neglect.


This is applicable for any assembly which is installed in the GAC. If you use the Windows Explorer, you can see those assemblies in the WindowsAssemblyGAC folder, but cannot copy them out of there. To access the internal structure, use the command shell, by typing cmd in the Start->Run menu. Navigate to the GAC folder and you will see all installed dll’s as folders, which inturn will contain the corresponding folders for each version. Just copy the dll’s from there to some other location and you have successfully extracted the dll’s from the GAC.


Category : dotNet &SharePoint

7 Comments → “Extracting dll’s out of the GAC”


  1. Mark Kruger, SharePoint MVP

    5 years ago

    Great tip! I had no idea that directory was there since I couldnt see it through the Windows Explorer Interface. I am not hiding any directories either. I was amazed when I went to the command line and navigated to this directory.

    This will be EXTREMELY handy!!! :)


  2. fengzhimei

    5 years ago

    refer to http://fengzhimei.cnblogs.com/archive/2005/07/18/195126.html


  3. http://

    5 years ago

    You can change the Windows\Assembly\GAC folder from the custom GAC view to the normal WIndows Explorer view by editing the Registry:
    HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion\

    Add a DWORD value called DisableCacheViewer and set the value to 1


  4. http://

    5 years ago

    Curiously, you see but can’t copy the dll’s using the VS2003 command prompt. You have to use the windows command prompt


  5. http://

    4 years ago

    You made my day. I was stuck and this solved the problem. Thanks!!


  6. erugalatha

    3 years ago

    map the gac folder as a network drive from your local machine … it’s easier.

    \\myserver\myGACshare


  7. Senthil Kumar

    2 years ago

    There is another Easier way to do it in Windows UI as well.

    Just type in following path in the RUN and press enter

    %windir%\assembly\gac_msil

    You will see all the folder structure in UI


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