asp.net MSDeployEnableWebConfigEncryptRule fail to encrypt web.config

Question

I have added <MSDeployEnableWebConfigEncryptRule>true</MSDeployEnableWebConfigEncryptRule> to .pubxml file in order to encrypt web config file. However, when publishing, i got the following error. I do not know whether there is extra setting needed in the web.config file other than inserting <MSDeployEnableWebConfigEncryptRule>true</MSDeployEnableWebConfigEncryptRule> in .pubxml

Error: Web deployment task failed.(Fail to encrypt destination web.config. Learn more at: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=221672#ERROR_FAILED_TO_ENCRYPT_WEB_CONFIG.)

Note: #ERROR_FAILED_TO_ENCRYPT_WEB_CONFIG does not appears anywhere on the given link.

How could i resolve this error? (note: i do not wish to pre-encrypt the web.config file locally before publishing it)

Answer 1

The problem seem to be that MSDeployEnableWebConfigEncryptRule doesn't work with MVC project that have multiple web.config files. Typically MVC project has Views/Web.Config file. This seems like a bug with MSDeploy.
My Workaround is to have a post deployment powershell script to perform same command on the destination server. See http://www.iis.net/learn/publish/using-web-deploy/web-deploy-powershell-cmdlets

Powershell Script Sample:

    Add-PSSnapin WDeploySnapin3.0
    $cmd = '%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\ASPNET_REGIIS.exe -{0} {1} "{2}"' -f 'pef', 'connectionStrings', $destinationFolder
    New-WDPublishSettings -UserId $UserName -Password $Password -ComputerName $destination -AllowUntrusted -FileName server.publishsettings -AgentType MSDepSvc -Site $Website
    Invoke-WDCommand -Command $cmd  -DestinationPublishSettings server -Verbose