HTTP error 500.19 - Cannot read configuration file

Question

In one of my ASP.NET apps, all of a sudden I am unable to run it in Visual Studio 2013 due to the error displayed below. It appears that it is trying to open the web.config from

Answer 1

I had this issue when I moved the project folder to the new machine. The problem is that the VS has the site registered in its config file (applicationhost.config) inside .vs/ folder but did not create folder inside %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Web Sites\. If you just click Create Virtual Directory inside the project properties (Web tab) it will not be enough.

1. First close your VS and remove .vs/ folder inside your solution directory
2. Reopen VS and click Create Virtual Directory inside the project properties (Web tab) - VS will register the site again and create corresponding folder inside %USERPROFILE%\My Documents\My Web Sites\