ASP.NET website is working in IIS but not in browser

Question

I have deployed my asp.net 2.0 website on IIS, and I tested there by browsing website in IIS and it's working fine. But I am getting the below error while browsing the website

Configuration Error Description: An error occurred during the processing of a configuration file required to service this request. Please review the specific error details below and modify your configuration file appropriately.

Parser Error Message: Unrecognized attribute 'xmlns'.

Source Error:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
  <configuration xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/.NetConfiguration/v2.0"&gt;
    <configSections>
        <section name="loggingConfiguration" type="Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging.Configuration.LoggingSettings, Microsoft.Practices.EnterpriseLibrary.Logging, Version=3.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"/>

Previously when we used to create a website in IIS, it worked fine. I have checked the website folder in IIS [ By clicking Property > ASP.NET] and the framwework tageted there is 1.1, and it is in read only mode. If the problem is related to this issue than please let me know how to change it.

Answer 1

The error message you're getting is that the attribute xmlns of the element configuration is not recognized. Before anything else, have you tried removing the xmlns attribute?

I've just double checked by looking at a web.config file I have to hand and the start of it looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>

i.e. No xmlns attribute on the configuration element

Answer 2

In the Property > ASP.NET tab you need to select the 2.0 version in the version combo. If not available, it means that .NET 2.0 is not properly installed with IIS.

I had this exact error message on a machine where I installed .NET 2.0 prior to IIS.

You can fix this by opening a .NET 2.0 SDK Command Prompt, and run

aspnet_regiis.exe -ir

This will register .NET 2.0 in IIS, and you will get it available in the version combo.

NOTE:
An alternative to run it in the SDK command prompt, is to open a standard command window and navigate to the .NET Framework 2.0 installed location and run aspnet_regiis.exe -ir from there.
On my installation this is:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50110>