Upgrading from Duende 7.2.4 to 7.3.1 crashes the app

[unaipme]

Hi!

I am using Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework on our project. Currently, I'm using version 7.2.4. I tried upgrading to 7.3.1 (the mentioned breaking changes don't seem to affect me) and everything seemed to be okay. But when I launch the project, I'm getting this weird error:

Unhandled exception. System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage, Version=7.0.8.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'. The system cannot find the file specified.

File name: 'Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage, Version=7.0.8.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'
   at Devices.Api.Security.ConfigurationExtensions.AddCustomAuthentication(IServiceCollection services, IConfiguration config)
   at Devices.Api.Startup.ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services) in /root/smart-analytics/Apps/Web/src/Devices.Api/Startup.cs:line 147
   at Program.<Main>$(String[] args) in /root/smart-analytics/Apps/Web/src/Devices.Api/Program.cs:line 38

The app won't launch at all. I tried looking up potential transitive dependencies that could be including that specific version of the Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage library (which I don't even use directly) and realized the dotnet list package command doesn't work. It stops working after the upgrade. I'm not even sure if this has to do anything with the issue but it's weird it all happened at the same time.

What can I do? Thank you!

[wcabus]

What output do you see when you try to run the following command in your IdentityServer project folder?

dotnet nuget why Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage

For example, this is the output I'm seeing:

Project 'Sample.IdSrvEf' has the following dependency graph(s) for 'Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage':

  [net9.0]
   │
   └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework (v7.3.1)
      └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage (v7.3.1)

To help resolve this issue, try to clear NuGet caches: dotnet nuget locals all --clear
Or add an explicit reference to the Storage library as well: dotnet package add Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage --version 7.3.1 --project ./path/to/IdentityServer.csproj

[unaipme]

Hi @wcabus, thank you for your quick reply :)

After trying all your suggestions, I still get the same error.

Here's the output of dotnet nuget why:

  [net8.0]
   │
   ├─ ApiAuthorization.IdentityServer (v1.1.5)
   │  └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework (v7.3.1)
   │     └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage (v7.3.1)
   ├─ Dbs.DbUpdater.Mssql.Devices (v2025.9.5.851)
   │  └─ Devices.Api.Common (v2025.9.5.851)
   │     └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework (v7.3.1)
   │        └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage (v7.3.1)
   ├─ Dbs.DbUpdater.Mssql.Web (v2025.9.5.851)
   │  └─ Devices.Api.Common (v2025.9.5.851)
   │     └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework (v7.3.1)
   │        └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage (v7.3.1)
   ├─ Dbs.DbUpdater.TimescaleDb.BendingDevices (v2025.9.5.851)
   │  └─ Devices.Api.Common (v2025.9.5.851)
   │     └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework (v7.3.1)
   │        └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage (v7.3.1)
   ├─ Dbs.DbUpdater.TimescaleDb.Ssc (v2025.9.5.851)
   │  └─ Devices.Api.Common (v2025.9.5.851)
   │     └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework (v7.3.1)
   │        └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage (v7.3.1)
   ├─ Devices.Api.Common (v2025.9.5.851)
   │  └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework (v7.3.1)
   │     └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage (v7.3.1)
   └─ Duende.IdentityServer.EntityFramework.Storage (v7.3.1)

One aspect I forgot to mention in my original post is that I am using .NET 8 (my local installation is v8.0.404). I only realized when some of your commands weren't working for me (it used to be dotnet add package before .NET 9, for example). We are also using CPM, don't know if that could affect in any way.

[wcabus]

Have you tried cleaning (deleting) all the bin and obj folders manually in every project?

At first, I thought it was an IdentityServer related issue, but it looks like you're building a custom API to manage IdentityServer resources using our EntityFramework NuGet packages. Are all these projects (Devices.Api.Common etc) targeting .NET 8 or higher?

[unaipme]

Now I have, and I keep getting the same message :(

I don't know what you mean with building a custom API to manage Identity Server. This is just a monolithic .NET backend app. The fact that it's called Devices.Api.Common has nothing to do with it, if that's what you meant. All of the projects are targeted towards .NET 8 exactly.

What other information can I provide?

[wcabus]

Can you have a look at the following suggestions?

• Are you perhaps using lock files when restoring NuGet packages? That could also cause issues when attempting to restore dependencies.
• Is there someone else on the team who tried to update the package versions as well? Is everyone seeing the same issue?
• Could you try cloning the project again in a fresh folder to see if that fixes the problem?

[unaipme]

• I don't use lock files to the best of my knowledge, didn't know they existed. Searching RestorePackagesWithLockFile in my project gives no results.
• Two different people in the team have tried it, myself included. I've also tried it in my computer from WSL (where I usually work) and from Windows. Still didn't work.
• I've tried with a fresh clone. Still didn't work.