Dynamics CRM 2011 : Registering CRM 4.0 Plugin in CRM 2011 Deployment

The backward compatibility in Dynamics CRM 2011 for Dynamics CRM 4.0 supports CRM 4.0 web services end points and allows to register CRM 4.0 plugins, workflow assemblies, develop code for Web services Jscript or ASP.Net code. In many scenarios the pervious written code for CRM 4.0 works fine in CRM 2011. While browsing Microsoft Dynamics CRM Forums, i found many posts regarding the registration of CRM 4.0 plugin in CRM 2011 so I decided to post the complete steps by step solution with the plugin registration tool updated files.

*The solution describes below has been based on the findings of Microsoft Dynamics CRM MVP David Jennaway.

Dynamics CRM 4.0 Plugin Registration in CRM 2011:

You can download the Updated Registration Tool Exe Files (CRM 4.0 Plugin Registration Tool Exe Files.zip) or CRM 4.0 plugin registration updated Visual Studio 2010 solution (CRM 4.0 Plugin Registration Tool Exe Files.zip) or may also follow the steps below to make required changes into the CRM 4.0 Plugin Registration Tool Configuration file.

CRM 4.0 plugins can be registered via Dynamics CRM 4.0 plugin registration tools and if you will register a CRM 4.0 plugin via CRM 2011 plugin registration tool then following error will occur:

Error 

Unhandled Exception: System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not load file or assembly 'Microsoft.Crm.Sdk, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified

Solution Steps:


You can download the solution file from the above links but if you want to make manually changes into the CRM 4.0 plugin Registration configuration file then follow the steps below:

1. Open Dynamics CRM 4.0 Plugin Registration tool Source code into Visual Studio (you can find the source code into the CRM 4.0 SDK\Tools\Plugin Registration Tool directory)

2. Edit app.config file and add the runtime information below:

<configuration>         <configSections>                 <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings"          type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0,                         Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">                         <section name="PluginRegistrationTool.Properties.Settings"                      type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System,                                Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"                      requirePermission="false"/>                 </sectionGroup>         </configSections>         <startup>                 <supportedRuntime version="v2.0.50727"/>         </startup>                <!--The following <runtime> information will be added-->         <runtime>                 <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">                         <dependentAssembly>                                 <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Crm.Sdk" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"                                  culture="neutral"/>"                                 <publisherPolicy apply="no"/>                         </dependentAssembly>                 </assemblyBinding>         </runtime> </configuration>

3. Build and run the plugin registration tool, enter CRM 2011 server connectivity details and register the CRM 4.0 plugins into CRM 2011

*If you have the Plugin Registration Tools executable binaries then you edit the PluginRegistration.exe.config file instead of app.config.