The configuration section 'system.servicemodel' cannot be read because it is missing a section declaration

Question

I have somewhat of a problem. My old webserver (windows 2003) have been replaced, with a 2008 R2. I have been given an admin account on it, and can do whatever I want, but I am no expert on this area. I configured the roles to have application developement and Web server (iis7).

BUT, my website runs .NET4, and the role only installed 3.5. So I have attempted to install .NET4 manually, on the server. My problem is, my website will not work on it, due to the System.ServiceModel section in my web.config. I have made sure it runs in .NET4 application pool.

I assume this is a WCF problem, but I can't grasp how to solve it. I have tried everything I found on google. aspnet_regis, ServiceModelReg.exe and so on. I have even tried re-installing the webserver role, but I still get this error, everytime I try to enter the sites setup.

I'm hoping there are some experts here, who know how to fix this.

Answer 1

I had the same error message, and it was because I was missing the .NET 3.5.1 framework on that server. Enabling that fixed my problem: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlblog/archive/2010/01/08/how-to-install-net-framework-3-5-sp1-on-windows-server-2008-r2-environments.aspx

Answer 2

Go to the application pools in IIS and select the "Set Applicaiton Pool Default" [available in the right top corner], and check the version of .net framework.

Note: It'ld be selected as .net 4.0 version by default

Answer 3

Apparently IIS7 needs a System.WebServer section, even if it is empty. Adding the following to my web.config file fixed my problem.

  <system.webServer>
  </system.webServer>

Answer 4

I had a different reason for getting this error.

This happened during migration of an MVC project from .Net 4.0 to 4.5, where the Microsoft.IdentityModel library is replaced with System.identityModel. In my case I had done all the necessary Web.Config migration steps listed here, but had forgotten to change the section name in configSections section:

<configSections>
 <section name="microsoft.identityModel" type="Microsoft.IdentityModel.Configuration.MicrosoftIdentityModelSection, Microsoft.IdentityModel, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
</configSections>

As written here, the section definition should be:

<section name="system.identityModel" type="System.IdentityModel.Configuration.SystemIdentityModelSection, System.IdentityModel, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>

Answer 5

The issue for me was that WCF Services wasn't installed. Installing that fixed the problem for me: IS7: WCF Services - .SVC do not work.

Note that changing the application pool .NET version from 2.0 to 4.0 wasn't an option for me because the site needed to run on 2.0.

Answer 6

Because my project need run in .net 2.0 I must follow this link and it work for me with solution 3 : run file.js

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/wenlong/archive/2010/11/23/why-does-machine-config-contain-invalid-xml-content-after-installing-net-3-5-patches.aspx