---
title: "What is GAC? What are the steps to create an assembly and add it to the GAC?"  
description: "What is GAC? What are the steps to create an assembly and add it to the GAC?"  
author: "Varun Agrawal"  
published: 2011-03-29  
updated: 2020-09-21  
canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/interview/721/what-is-gac-what-are-the-steps-to-create-an-assembly-and-add-it-to-the-gac  
category: ".net"  
tags: [".net"]  
reading_time: 1 minute  

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# What is GAC? What are the steps to create an assembly and add it to the GAC?

The **global assembly cache (GAC)** is a machine-wide code cache that stores assemblies specifically designated to be shared by several applications on the computer. You should share assemblies by installing them into the global assembly cache only when you need to. **Steps** - Create a strong name using sn.exe tool eg: sn -k mykey.snk - in AssemblyInfo.cs, add the strong name eg: [assembly: AssemblyKeyFile("mykey.snk")] - recompile project, and then install it to GAC in two ways :· drag & drop it to assembly folder (C:\WINDOWS\assembly OR C:\WINNT\assembly) (shfusion.dll tool)· gacutil -i abc.dll

## Answers

### Answer by Varun Agrawal

The **global assembly cache (GAC)** is a machine-wide code cache that stores assemblies specifically designated to be shared by several applications on the computer. You should share assemblies by installing them into the global assembly cache only when you need to. **Steps** - Create a strong name using sn.exe tool eg: sn -k mykey.snk - in AssemblyInfo.cs, add the strong name eg: [assembly: AssemblyKeyFile("mykey.snk")] - recompile project, and then install it to GAC in two ways :· drag & drop it to assembly folder (C:\WINDOWS\assembly OR C:\WINNT\assembly) (shfusion.dll tool)· gacutil -i abc.dll


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