Special Characters in web.config file

Question

My password contains special characters like '&' and VS giving error on this like Password=abcdef!@hh&held

How can I use special characters in my web.config file?

Answer 1

Since the web.config file is an XML file, the values need to be XML encoded:

Password=abcdef!@hh&held

Note how & is replaced by &

Answer 2

The web.config is like any other XML file, so certain characters need to be encoded.

For example, & should be written as &.