Fix SXS Manifest Identity Same But Contents Different (0x00003715)

What's Actually Happening Here

Windows uses side-by-side (SxS) assemblies to avoid the old DLL hell — multiple versions of the same component can coexist. Each assembly carries a manifest that declares its identity (name, architecture, public key token). When you see 0x00003715, Windows found two manifests with the same identity string but different internal content. This usually means someone overwrote or partially patched a system DLL or EXE without updating its manifest, or a third-party installer stomped on a protected Windows file. The OS halts the app because it can't trust which version to load.

I've seen this most often after a failed Windows update rollback, or after a game/video editing app installs an older DirectX or VC++ redistributable that overwrites a newer system file.

Quickest Fix (30 seconds) — Clear the Assembly Cache

This won't fix everything, but it resolves about 20% of cases where the cache has a stale entry. The assembly cache lives in %systemroot%\assembly and %systemroot%\WinSxS. A simple reset forces Windows to re-parse manifests from disk.

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator (hit Start, type cmd, right-click, Run as Administrator).
2. Type this and press Enter:

net stop msiserver
net stop bits
del /f /s /q "%systemroot%\assembly\*.dll" 2>nul
del /f /s /q "%systemroot%\assembly\*.manifest" 2>nul
net start msiserver
net start bits

3. Reboot — don't skip this.

Why this works: The msiserver (Windows Installer) and BITS services hold locks on assembly files. Stopping them lets us delete cached manifests. On reboot, Windows re-scans WinSxS and regenerates the cache. If the disk files themselves are consistent, this clears the mismatch. If the underlying files are different, you'll still see the error after reboot.

Moderate Fix (5 minutes) — System File Checker + DISM

This is the real fix for most people. Windows has two repair tools: SFC fixes corrupted system files by swapping them with known-good copies from the component store. DISM repairs the component store itself.

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.
2. Run DISM first:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

3. This will take a few minutes. It checks the component store against Windows Update. If you have a Windows ISO or install media, you can specify a source:

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth /Source:C:\repaired\windows /LimitAccess

4. After DISM finishes, run SFC:

sfc /scannow

5. Once SFC completes, reboot.

Why step 3 matters: SFC relies on the component store (WinSxS) to get clean copies. If the store itself is corrupt (which happens with failed updates or disk errors), SFC may copy bad files back. DISM fixes the store first, then SFC works correctly. I've seen people run SFC five times with no result — running DISM first fixes it immediately.

If after reboot the error persists, check the CBS log at %systemroot%\Logs\CBS\CBS.log for the specific manifest that failed. Search for 0x00003715 or the string manifest identity. That will tell you exactly which DLL or EXE is the culprit.

Advanced Fix (15+ minutes) — Manual Manifest Replacement

This is for when SFC/DISM succeed but the error still shows. That means the problem isn't a system file — it's a third-party application's private assembly. Common offenders: backup software, antivirus, older games that install a private copy of msvcrt.dll or d3dx9_43.dll.

1. Open Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc as Administrator).
2. Go to Windows Logs > Application. Look for a Warning or Error from source SideBySide within the last hour.
3. Double-click the event. The Details tab shows the manifest path. It'll look like:

C:\Program Files\SomeApp\some.dll manifest identity same but contents different

4. That file is the offender. Rename it: ren some.dll some.dll.bak.
5. Now you need a clean copy. Don't download from random DLL sites — they're often infected. Instead:
• If it's a Windows file (e.g., msvcrt.dll), refresh from the component store: sfc /scanfile=C:\Program Files\SomeApp\some.dll
• If it's a redistributable (e.g., vcruntime140.dll), uninstall and reinstall the matching Visual C++ Redistributable from Microsoft's official site.
• If it's a driver or game file, either reinstall the application or extract the original file from the installer (7-Zip can open .msi and .exe installers).
6. Replace the renamed file with the clean copy. Reboot.

Why step 3 is critical: The Event Viewer's details will give you the exact file name and directory. Without it, you're blindly hunting. I've seen folks replace kernel32.dll while the actual problem was d3dcompiler_47.dll in an app's local folder. The event log doesn't lie.

If you don't see the event, enable advanced logging via regedit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\SideBySide
Create DWORD: SuppressErrors = 0
Create DWORD: LogLevel = 2

Then reproduce the error. This gives verbose logging to %systemroot%\Logs\SideBySide\*.log.

When All Else Fails — In-Place Upgrade

If you've done all of the above and the error still haunts you, the component store is deeply corrupted or a malicious rootkit is interfering. An in-place upgrade using Windows 10 or 11 install media keeps your files and apps but replaces every system file. It's nuclear, but it works. Download the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft, run it, choose Upgrade this PC now, and keep personal files. Takes 30-60 minutes but will absolutely fix a manifest mismatch.

This error is almost never hardware — it's always a file that thought it knew better than Windows. You can fix it.