Problem replacing digitizer screen

We are having problems just getting started trying to replace the digitizer screen on a Microsoft Surface 7+ Pro.

Although the documentation keeps referring to running the SDT software and choosing "Repair setup and validation" and entering TDM Replacement Mode.

Initially, we could not find this option on any version of the SDT software that we could find. We did finally find some software that had a technician mode that did allow for TDM Replacement Mode.

Now, however, we are getting the error:

Running Test: The type initializer for 'NCPTransport.AccessNcpTransportFactory' threw an exception.

With no further error information. We've updated drivers on the computer, but we're still getting the error. We can't find anything on the internet about this error or how to resolve it.

Any idea what this means and how we can get around this? We haven't even started the hard part yet, but we seem stymied by this software error.