When building my WiX project with WiX 3.8 in VS 2013, I get:
heat.exe(0,0): warning HEAT5151: Could not harvest data from a file that was expected to be an assembly: C:\local\eknapp\Workspace-Dispatcher\client\software\DISP.DesktopClient\DISP.DesktopClient\bin\debug\DISP.API.UI.dll. If this file is not an assembly you can ignore this warning. Otherwise, this error detail may be helpful to diagnose the failure: The given assembly name or codebase,
'C:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\assembly\GAC_MSIL\WindowsBase\v4.0_4.0.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\WindowsBase.dll', was invalid.
I checked the GAC, and WindowsBase.dll, version 4.0 is there. I looked inside both assemblies with Telerik's JustDecompile and all appears OK. The application runs without a problem, both within VS and when installed with the (apparently deficient) .msi, on any number of machines.
Any ideas?
you should not harvest DLL files from the GAC. if you really want to you can use copy local true attribute, however this is a mistake to harvest those.
If i'm not mistaken this DLL file comes with .Net so you might need to install .net for your user with your installer.
read this wix bug http://sourceforge.net/p/wix/bugs/2082/