In VS, how do I prevent dlls from being copied when referenced

I originally thought that a reference to a dll was just that, a reference. But it appears the referenced dlls are copied to the bin\debug folder.

How do I prevent this?开发者_开发百科

You can right click on the reference in the solution explorer, and choose "Properties". One of the options is "Copy Local". Set that to false, and it won't copy the assembly.

Just realize that the assembly must still be discoverable at runtime. This is why it copies it locally by default.