I have a ClickOnce app that fails during installation. It fails even before the user is asked if the app should be installed. The details provide the following tantalizing clue: "The referenced assembly is not installed on your system. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800736B3)". The thing that makes this problem somewhat unique (at least from my searching) is that, in my case, nothing actually gets created in %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Apps\2.0.

I get:

and then:

Further info for background:

I was delighted to discover this question, and so strongly feel the sentiments expressed there:

1. "For the love of all, Microsoft, why omit the name of offending file from the log?! It would be so helpful!"
2. "Windows Event Log does not have any trace of my multiple attempts, so it is of no use."

I would add:

1. Why isn't there better logging of this problem somewhere? The Windows Event Log would be fine.
2. Why does rundll32 %SystemRoot%\system32\dfshim.dll CleanOnlineAppCache produce no output? There is no way to know whether it does anything.

Unfortunately my joy quickly evaporated, since the solution didn't work for me.