There was an error downloading metadata from the address

Question

I am trying to add service reference.

There was an error downloading metadata from the address

this is the error which is being displayed again and again?

Answer 1

Another possibility in this situation is that there is no endpoint listening. I.e., the service you are trying to add isn't "up". I made this mistake when trying to add a reference to a WCF service I was working on, but I forgot to Open it.

Answer 2

I know this is an oldie, but I thought I would add what worked for me so that I can find it again down the road ;)

In my case, the AppPool user didn't have access the %Windir%\temp, which apparently is necessary in order for the MEX data to be generated.

Shout out to Amy Peng in this thread for her tip!

Answer 3

You may also just need to build / rebuild the project.

Answer 4

Check IIS is serving the service URL. In my case, I had changed my Windows password, but had forgotten that these credentials were being used by IIS in both the application and the app pool.

Answer 5

It was happening the same to me and I found that I've had forgotten to add the "Service Contract" and the "Operation Contract" annotations on the interface of my WCF service

Answer 6

Just try to Build the project without any error and give service reference again.