Could not find file 'C:\Windows\system32\Shipment.dtd'

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An XML message received by a BizTalk application, which has a reference to Document Type Definition in it, was suspended at Receive Port with below error in BizTalk Admin Console.

Error:
There was a failure executing the receive pipeline: Microsoft.BizTalk.DefaultPipelines.XMLReceive, Microsoft.BizTalk.DefaultPipelines, Version=3.0.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35: msg=Could not find file 'C:\Windows\system32\Shipment.dtd'., stack=   at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)

XML message Header and DTD reference in inbound message:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE ShipmentTransaction PUBLIC "Shipment" "Shipment.dtd">

Surprisingly, the same message processed successfully on BizTalk server 2009 but failed in BizTalk server 2013R2, though we have verified that ‘Shipment.dtd’ file exists in the location ‘C:\Windows\system32’ on both servers with all required permissions.

The alternative approach to process this message is to remove this DTD reference in incoming message, which worked on BizTalk server 2013R2.

Business Scenario:

One of the BizTalk out-of-the-box features-B2B communication, would certainly need a set of business policies to be followed upon by both trading partners involved in transaction. In one of those scenarios, a trading partner (say Partner ‘A’) might need to include a Document Type Definition included in their core communication (XML in current scenario) with their Partner ‘B’. It is now Partner B’s responsibility how to handle the DTD references in inbound messages to generate corresponding XML schemas. In this case, above mentioned alternative approach does not work for Partner ‘B’ as they receive high volume of messages per day from Partner ‘A’.
Though this could be handled in different ways of exception handling, we need to verify below points before we proceed to customization (From partner B’s perspective).
->Is the server a 32-bit or 64-bit server? On which host (32-bit or 64-bit) the BizTalk artifact is running?
Reason:

A 32-bit Host process running on a 32-bit server, by default, search for DTD file in ‘C:\Windows\System32’ location.
Therefore, BizTalk server 2009, running on a 32-bit server, and the artifact (Receive location in this scenario) is running on 32-bit host would check for ‘Shipment.dtd’ file in ‘C:\Windows\System32’ location and process the message successfully.

Things differ for 64-bit server as per below.

A 32-bit Host process running on a 64-bit server refers to ‘c:\windows\syswow64’, whereas, 64-bit Host process refers to ‘c:\windows\system32’.

In our case, BizTalk server 2013R2, running on a 64-bit server, and the artifact (Receive location in this scenario) running on 32-bit host would check for ‘Shipment.dtd’ is referring to ‘c:\windows\syswow64’ where there is NO ‘Shipment.dtd’ file located. Once we place this DTD file in syswow64 folder, the message was processed successfully. Hence, the error message misleading us to check only system32 folder on the server.

Written By
Sandeepkumar Pasumarthy
Microsoft GTSC