ASP.NET has no access to IIS metabase

Question

How to solve this problem?

I am using asp.net 2.0, vs2005 and IIS 5.1.

Using Windows XP SP3.

Failed to access IIS metabase.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironmentException: Failed to access IIS metabase.

The process account used to run ASP.NET must have read access to the IIS metabase (e.g. IIS://servername/W3SVC). For information on modifying metabase permissions, please see http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=267904.

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.

Stack Trace:

[HostingEnvironmentException: Failed to access IIS metabase.]
   System.Web.Configuration.MetabaseServerConfig.MapPathCaching(String siteID, VirtualPath path) +3591442
   System.Web.Configuration.MetabaseServerConfig.System.Web.Configuration.IConfigMapPath2.MapPath(String siteID, VirtualPath vpath) +9
   System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.MapPathActual(VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean permitNull) +169
   System.Web.CachedPathData.GetConfigPathData(String configPath) +389
   System.Web.CachedPathData.GetConfigPathData(String configPath) +243
   System.Web.CachedPathData.GetApplicationPathData() +68
   System.Web.CachedPathData.GetVirtualPathData(VirtualPath virtualPath, Boolean permitPathsOutsideApp) +3536567
   System.Web.Configuration.RuntimeConfig.GetLKGRuntimeConfig(VirtualPath path) +189

Answer 1

The rights of the ASPNET user have not been set correctly.

What version of ASP.NET are you running?

try

Start -> Run 
Type cmd <HIT RETURN>
Type c:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis -i <HIT RETURN>

Answer 2

try running aspnet_regiis -i from the dotnet directory. It has a way of fixing things.

Answer 3

Running asnet_regiis with the -i option might not be enough, as the reason might be the lack of proper IIS Metabase access rights for ASPNET account.

I would suggest running it with the -ga option:

aspnet_regiis.exe -ga ASPNET

As a general comment, this issue will occur if one installs Visual Studio and/or the .Net Framework before installing IIS.