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Fixing a Broken Windows 10 SDK Installation

Article ID: KB100039Published: March 24, 2016

Synopsis​

Eazfuscator.NET relies on Windows 10 SDK to process UWP applications. However, Windows 10 SDK may break on some machines under specific conditions. Here is a partial list of possible errors that you may get when trying to obfuscate a UWP application with Eazfuscator.NET when Windows 10 SDK is broken:

Error in loading XAML file 'XXX.xbf' --> Method not found: 'Void Windows.Foundation.Metadata.ComposableAttribute..ctor(System.Type, Windows.Foundation.Metadata.CompositionType, UInt32, System.String)
Error in loading XAML file 'XXX.xbf' --> Method not found: 'Void Windows.Foundation.Metadata.ActivatableAttribute..ctor(UInt32, System.String)'

This issue is exposed when an older version of the SDK “Windows 10 SDK and tools, July 2015 release” is installed after the more recent SDK version “Windows SDK and tools for Windows 10, version 1511”.

The problem can be confirmed to be the issue if the file C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\References\Windows.Foundation.FoundationContract\1.0.0.0\Windows.Foundation.FoundationContract.winmd is dated before November 19, 2015.

Eazfuscator.NET 5.3+ produces the following error message during obfuscation when a broken Windows 10 SDK installation is detected:

Windows 10 SDK installation is broken on this machine.
Please follow instructions at https://help.gapotchenko.com/eazfuscator.net/kb/100039.
info

The link in the above error message points to this article.

Instructions​

Please follow the instructions below to repair Windows 10 SDK installation on your machine:

  1. Start → Control Panel
  2. Under the Programs section choose Uninstall a program
  3. This will open a window with the list of all installed applications. In the upper right hand corner, type “kit” in the search box. This will filter the list of installed programs. One of the filtered applications will be “Windows Software Development Kit – Windows 10.0.10586.15”
  4. Click on “Windows Software Development Kit – Windows 10.0.10586.15”, and choose Change. This opens the Windows Software Development Kit setup dialog
  5. Select Repair, then proceed by clicking Next button

This will repair the installation of “Windows SDK and tools for Windows 10, version 1511” software package installed on your machine.

Applicability​

This article applies to:

  • Eazfuscator.NET 5.1 or higher. Earlier versions do not support UWP
  • Windows 10 or higher. Windows 10 SDK cannot be installed on other operating systems