Could not load file or assembly ‘System.Fabric’

I was working on a Lync SE Front End Server where the Front End Service was stuck at starting. I tried Reset-CSPoolFabricState –PoolFQDN {PoolFQDN} –ResetType QuorumLossRecovery but that didn’t work this time.

I noticed in the event viewer an warning event 50016 mentioning Windows Fabric.

An exception was caught or ignored

Exception Details. Could not load file or assembly ‘System.Farbric Version 1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken 31bf3856ad364e35 or one of its dependencies. The system cannot file the file specified.

This pointed to my friend Windows Fabric so i decide to remove and re install as looks to be issue perhaps with corrupt files or missing files. I did the following to remove and reinstall Windows Fabric and patch it. remember to patch after re-install.

Stop all Lync services first using stop-cswindowsservice

Go to Programs and features and remove Windows Fabric

Reboot

Run Lync deployment Wizard > Install or Update Lync Server System

Step 2: Setup or Remove Lync Server Components

This reinstalled Windows Fabric again. Wicked

Following the reinstall i ran the Lync Cumulative update that was last applied to the server to patch Windows Fabric.

After the patch was installed all Lync Services were already running :p happy times !