I\'m getting this error as my project is not able to find the reference for OWIN
startup class. I\'ve even installed all the OWIN reference packages through Nug
In our project, we didn't need the OWIN functionality, so we removed all the owin references from the initial ASP.NET MVC template project. The problem occured after removing the OWIN startup class.
The problem was the extra owin dll's in my bin folder. When I deleted them, the problem was resolved. You should delete them by deleting the bin folder. Clean Solution does not delete these dlls.
Somehow, IIS still executes the OWIN dll's when they are in the bin folder.