Sharepoint "Unknown Error" debugging - but can't turn on CallStack... ??

Question

On one dev machine, the standard method for enabling SharePoint debugging is not working. From c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\web.config:

<SharePoint>
  <SafeMode MaxControls="200" CallStack="true" DirectFileDependencies="10" TotalFileDependencies="50" AllowPageLevelTrace="false">...</SafeMode>
  ...
</Sharepoint>

<system.web>
  <customErrors mode="Off" />
  <compilation batch="true" debug="true">...</compilation>
  ...
</system.web>

But I still get the standard completely useless SharePoint errors:

Unknown Error 
Troubleshoot issues with Windows SharePoint Services.

I know the error is an Exception being thrown by a custom web part I'm writing, but I can't find anywhere that logs the stack trace. Enabling call stacks is my only hope right now and I'm completely lost. Is it possible that there's another setting or overriding web.config entry I need to set?

Thanks!

Answer 1

OK, so that this might someday help someone else - here's the answer. It turns out that yes, there is a web.config in the layouts directory:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS

which was overriding the setting for the particular SharePoint URL I was testing against.

It's not enough to turn on debug & turn off custom errors. You actually have to add the SharePoint block in if it's missing, something like this:

<SharePoint>
  <SafeMode MaxControls="200" CallStack="true" DirectFileDependencies="10" TotalFileDependencies="50" AllowPageLevelTrace="false" />
</SharePoint>

Answer 2

Thank you, you saved my day :)