title: How to force WebAPI to use JSON.net 6.0.3 instead of 4.5?
body: <p>After adding <code>WebAPI</code> and register it in <code>Global.asax</code>.</p>
  
  <p>We find our web app breaks at this line:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Line 17:             GlobalConfiguration.Configure(WebApiConfig.Register);
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Error message:</p>
  
  <pre><code>Could not load file or assembly 'Newtonsoft.Json, Version=4.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, 
  PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed' or one of its dependencies. 
  The system cannot find the file specified.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>After some checkup, I find we are using <code>Json.net 6</code> in this <code>MVC 5.1</code> application. Does it mean we have to downgrade to <code>Json.net 4.5</code> for <code>WebAPI</code> to work?</p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <p>In my <code>.csproj</code> file, there is only one entry:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;Reference Include="Newtonsoft.Json, Version=6.0.3.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=30ad4fe6b2a6aeed, processorArchitecture=MSIL"&gt;
    &lt;SpecificVersion&gt;False&lt;/SpecificVersion&gt;
    &lt;HintPath&gt;..\packages\Newtonsoft.Json.6.0.3\lib\net45\Newtonsoft.Json.dll&lt;/HintPath&gt;
    &lt;Private&gt;False&lt;/Private&gt;
  &lt;/Reference&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I look into my <code>Json.NET</code> in <code>Manage NuGet Packages</code>, it also says my <code>Json.NET</code> is version 6.0.3.</p>
  
  <p>In addition, there is already the <code>bindingRedirect</code> statement in my <code>web.config</code>.</p>
  
  <pre><code>  &lt;dependentAssembly&gt;
      &lt;assemblyIdentity name="Newtonsoft.Json" publicKeyToken="30ad4fe6b2a6aeed" culture="neutral" /&gt;
      &lt;bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-6.0.0.0" newVersion="6.0.0.0" /&gt;
    &lt;/dependentAssembly&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But, if I look into the <code>references</code> of the web project inside visual studio. The path of <code>Newtonsoft.Json</code> points to <code>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Blend\Newtonsoft.Json.dll</code> but <code>Copy Local</code> is false.</p>
  
  <p>How can that be? How can we handle this conflict?</p>