I recently upgraded Ektron from v8.6.1 to v9.1 SP1. After the upgrade when I tried to view the website, or run the project in Visual Studio I got the following error:

Parser Error Message: Reference.svcmap: Could not load file or assembly 'Ektron.Cms.Contracts, Version=8.6.1.xx, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=559a2c4fa21e63be' or one of its dependencies. The located assembly's manifest definition does not match the assembly reference. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80131040)

After much headache and many long emails back and forth with Ektron Support, I finally found an article that got me headed in the right direction.

Follow the link above for screenshots and details.

The basics are:

  1. Edit your Web Reference.
  2. Go into the Advanced tab.
  3. Clear the “Reuse types in referenced assemblies” checkbox and OK.