The provider for invariant name System.Data.SqlClient is specified multiple times

Question

I've update Entity Framework to 6.0 and now I'm getting an exception that I can't figure out.

An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for entityFramework: The provider for invariant name 'System.Data.SqlClient' is specified multiple times in the application configuration. The invariant name must be unique for each configured provider. (C:\inetpub\wwwroot\scrape\Scrape\web.config line 106)

The type initializer for 'System.Data.Entity.Internal.AppConfig' threw an exception.

The web.config doesn't have the provider listed multiple times and I only have one web.config for the whole project. I'm grateful for any help.

Stack Trace

at System.Data.Entity.Internal.AppConfig.get_DefaultInstance()

at System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalConnection..ctor(String nameOrConnectionString)

at System.Data.Entity.DbContext..ctor(String nameOrConnectionString)

at Scrape.Data.Contexts.ScabsContext..ctor() in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\scrape\Scrape.Data\Contexts\ScabsContext.cs:line 17

at Scrape.Data.Repositories.ScabStore..ctor() in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\scrape\Scrape.Data\Repositories\ScabStore.cs:line 15

at Scrape.Api.Controllers.ScabsController.get_store() in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\scrape\Scrape\Controllers\ScabsController.cs:line 28

at Scrape.Api.Controllers.ScabsController.Post(Scab scab) in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\scrape\Scrape\Controllers\ScabsController.cs:line 52

at lambda_method(Closure , Object , Object[] )

at System.Web.Http.Controllers.ReflectedHttpActionDescriptor.ActionExecutor.<>c_DisplayClassc.b_6(Object instance, Object[] methodParameters)

at System.Web.Http.Controllers.ReflectedHttpActionDescriptor.ActionExecutor.Execute(Object instance, Object[] arguments)

at System.Web.Http.Controllers.ReflectedHttpActionDescriptor.ExecuteAsync(HttpControllerContext controllerContext, IDictionary`2 arguments, CancellationToken cancellationToken)

And my web.config

<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=6.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
    <!-- For more information on Entity Framework configuration, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=237468 -->
  </configSections>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="ScabContext" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" connectionString="Data Source=bfleming-dev;Initial Catalog=scabs;User ID=scabs_dbo;Password=password" />
    <add name="lmsReadWrite" connectionString="Initial Catalog=caV2;Data Source=devsqlnow1.ca-schools.org;Network Library=dbmssocn;User Id=webuser;Password=hyqxYVTH9bjW;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;Application Name=connexus_main;" />
    <add name="lmsReadOnly" connectionString="Initial Catalog=caV2;Data Source=devsqlnow1.ca-schools.org;Network Library=dbmssocn;User Id=webuser;Password=hyqxYVTH9bjW;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;Application Name=connexus_main;" />
  </connectionStrings>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="webpages:Version" value="3.0.0.0" />
    <add key="webpages:Enabled" value="false" />
    <add key="PreserveLoginUrl" value="true" />
    <add key="ClientValidationEnabled" value="true" />
    <add key="UnobtrusiveJavaScriptEnabled" value="true" />
  </appSettings>
  <system.web>
    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.5" />
    <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5" />
    <authentication mode="None" />
    <pages>
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Helpers" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Optimization" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.WebPages" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
    <profile defaultProvider="DefaultProfileProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="DefaultProfileProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultProfileProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </profile>
    <membership defaultProvider="DefaultMembershipProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="DefaultMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultMembershipProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" enablePasswordRetrieval="false" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false" requiresUniqueEmail="false" maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="6" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0" passwordAttemptWindow="10" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </membership>
    <roleManager defaultProvider="DefaultRoleProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="DefaultRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultRoleProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </roleManager>
    <!--
            If you are deploying to a cloud environment that has multiple web server instances,
            you should change session state mode from "InProc" to "Custom". In addition,
            change the connection string named "DefaultConnection" to connect to an instance
            of SQL Server (including SQL Azure and SQL  Compact) instead of to SQL Server Express.
      -->
    <sessionState mode="InProc" customProvider="DefaultSessionProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="DefaultSessionProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultSessionStateProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" />
      </providers>
    </sessionState>
  </system.web>
  <system.webServer>
    <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />
    <handlers>
      <remove name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-Integrated-4.0" />
      <remove name="OPTIONSVerbHandler" />
      <remove name="TRACEVerbHandler" />
      <add name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-Integrated-4.0" path="*." verb="*" type="System.Web.Handlers.TransferRequestHandler" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv4.0" />
    </handlers>
  </system.webServer>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Http" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-5.1.0.0" newVersion="5.1.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="EntityFramework" publicKeyToken="b77a5c561934e089" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-6.0.0.0" newVersion="6.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="WebGrease" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-1.3.0.0" newVersion="1.3.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Helpers" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-5.1.0.0" newVersion="5.1.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Net.Http.Formatting" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-5.1.0.0" newVersion="5.1.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
  <entityFramework>
    <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework" />
    <providers>
      <provider invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient" type="System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices, EntityFramework.SqlServer" />
    </providers>
  </entityFramework>
</configuration>

Answer 1

The problem is the configuration/entityFramework/providers section has a duplicate provider for the invariant specified in the exception.

<provider invariantName="System.Data.SqlClient" type="System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices, EntityFramework.SqlServer" />

Even though you only specified one, what is likely happening is that there is one specified in a .config file in a parent directory. Since .config files inherit configuration from parents, it's seeing that it's being defined twice.

You can probably remove this provider safely for this application.

Based on the CodePlex project, this has been "fixed" in 6.1.0-alpha1 by ignoring exact duplicates.

Answer 2

try commenting out out the providers section, save and re-run. It maybe related to this The type initializer for 'System.Data.Entity.Internal.AppConfig' threw an exception on a Sub Website