My Windows Service crashes with "the key does not exist in the appSettings configuration section"

Question

There is the same question listed under http://stackoverflow.com/questions/427007/the-key-userid-does-not-exist-in-the-appsettings-configuration-section, but unfortunately none of the answers worked in my case. All was working fine, I checked everything in and when I opened the solution again, it started crashing on the above. I cannot find any hint of what I am doing wrong. Any ideas?

<configuration>
    <configSections>
        <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" >
            <section name="SMS.My.MySettings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77b444444e089" requirePermission="false" />
        </sectionGroup>
    </configSections>
    <appSettings>
      <add key="URI" value="http://123.123.123.57:8080/smsxml/collector"/&gt;
      <add key="Provider" value="220"/>
      <add key="LongCode" value="+3"/>
      <add key="DBServer" value="APPS"/>
      <add key="DBUsername" value="sms"/>
      <add key="DBPassword" value="sms1"/>
      <add key="Database" value="SMSService"/>
      <add key="Pooling" value="True"/>
      <add key="PoolMax" value="50"/>
      <add key="PoolInit" value="5"/>
      <add key="DBPollInterval" value="5"/>      
    </appSettings>

 System.InvalidOperationException was unhandled
  Message="The key 'LongCode' does not exist in the appSettings configuration section."
  Source="System"
  StackTrace:
       at System.Configuration.AppSettingsReader.GetValue(String key, Type type)
       at SMS.smsOxy..ctor() in C:\Documents and Settings\K\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\SMSComponent-Oxy\SMSComponent\smsOxy.vb:line 327
       at SMS.smsOxy.Main() in C:\Documents and Settings\K\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\SMSComponent-Oxy\SMSComponent\smsOxy.vb:line 57
       at System.AppDomain._nExecuteAssembly(Assembly assembly, String[] args)
       at System.AppDomain.nExecuteAssembly(Assembly assembly, String[] args)
       at System.Runtime.Hosting.ManifestRunner.Run(Boolean checkAptModel)
       at System.Runtime.Hosting.ManifestRunner.ExecuteAsAssembly()
       at System.Runtime.Hosting.ApplicationActivator.CreateInstance(ActivationContext activationContext, String[] activationCustomData)
       at System.Runtime.Hosting.ApplicationActivator.CreateInstance(ActivationContext activationContext)
       at System.Activator.CreateInstance(ActivationContext activationContext)
       at Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.HostProc.RunUsersAssemblyDebugInZone()
       at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)
       at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)
       at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()
  InnerException: 

"   at System.Configuration.AppSettingsReader.GetValue(String key, Type type)    at SMS.smsOxy..ctor() in C:\Documents and Settings\K\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\SMSComponent-Oxy\SMSComponent\smsOxy.vb:line 327    at SMS.smsOxy.Main() in C:\Documents and Settings\K\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\SMSComponent-Oxy\SMSComponent\smsOxy.vb:line 57    at System.AppDomain._nExecuteAssembly(Assembly assembly, String[] args)    at System.AppDomain.nExecuteAssembly(Assembly assembly, String[] args)    at System.Runtime.Hosting.ManifestRunner.Run(Boolean checkAptModel)    at System.Runtime.Hosting.ManifestRunner.ExecuteAsAssembly()    at System.Runtime.Hosting.ApplicationActivator.CreateInstance(ActivationContext activationContext, String[] activationCustomData)    at System.Runtime.Hosting.ApplicationActivator.CreateInstance(ActivationContext activationContext)    at System.Activator.CreateInstance(ActivationContext activationContext)    at Microsoft.VisualStudio.HostingProcess.HostProc.RunUsersAssemblyDebugInZone()    at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart_Context(Object state)    at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)    at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()"

Answer 1

Try to copy the <appSettings></appSettings> from the app.config to the bin/Debug/appname.exe.config file as when one builds/compiles, VS.NET copies and renames app.config (to bin/Debug/appname.exe.config) over to the bin folder.

Answer 2

How are you starting your service? Make sure that appname.exe.config file in the folder where you are running service from has same appSettings.