Web.config transformation option is greyed out

Question

In VS2010, when I right click on my web.config file the \"Add Config Transforms\" option is greyed out.

Any idea how I can get that back?

Answer 1

If it's a custom configuration you're adding via Configuration Manager, be sure to check the "Create new project configurations" checkbox (it's unchecked by default) when you create the configuration.

Answer 2

I had this issue after having already added extra Configurations from Configuration Manager.

I had to delete them, and re-add them before Visual Studio would enable "Add Config Transforms"

I'm guessing the configurations for these in the web project were removed/corrupted at some point, and it needed to be reset.

Answer 3

Restarting Visual Studio worked for me. I won't say it'll work for everyone, but it's certainly worth trying.

I had 5 configurations, but only 3 transform files. I was not in debug mode, but the option was still grayed out.

Answer 4

One can also avoid the configuration manager dialog entirely and just directly edit the project file, adding as many additional config files as needed.

This is especially useful when using a more advanced config transformation tool like CodeAssassin.ConfigTransform or SlowCheetah.

<ItemGroup>
    <Content Include="web.config">
        <SubType>Designer</SubType>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="web.debug.local.config">
        <DependentUpon>web.config</DependentUpon>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="web.debug.cloudstaging.config">
        <DependentUpon>web.config</DependentUpon>
    </Content>
    <Content Include="web.release.cloudprod.config">
        <DependentUpon>web.config</DependentUpon>
    </Content>
</ItemGroup>