Error: “The file '/MasterPages/MainMaster.master' does not exist.” (Yes, this file does exist!)

Question

I just got a new desktop computer with Windows 7 Pro as the operating system. I installed Visual Studio 2008 on to this new computer and tried to open a previously existing ASP.

Answer 1

I recently had to move my websites from one server(32 bit) to another server(64 bit). On the new server I experienced the file not found error "Parser Error Message: The file '~/Master.master' does not exist"

NB: some of my applications were built for x86, you still need to convert your website to an application :-)

Solution: In IIS8, click Application Pool -> select an app pool eg DefaultAppPool -> click 'Advanced Settings' -> Under the 'General' section set 'Enable 32-Bit Applications' to 'True' -> Click OK

Refresh your website/webservice and that should do the trick