tracking NullReferenceExceptions in sitecore

Question

i\'m trying to track a NullReferenceException that shows up on sitecore 6.5 at loading any webpage:

[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an i         


        

Answer 1

I had the exact same problem (my stack trace was the same as the one posted) and it turned out to be a malformed .config file in the App_Config\Include folder. Fixed the config and my site loaded without problems.

Answer 2

I had the exact same issue encountered above and can confirm it happened because of an incompatible .config file in the App_Config/Include folder. The .config file was working on IIS7, but not II6.

My best advice to get to the bottom of this issue is a tedious trial and error message. Remove any suspect .config files until the website is up and running (or revert to original .config files). Start adding each .config file one by one, until you discover the file that breaks the site and causes the above issue.

Answer 3

I had similar problem and it turned out I had malformed config file. More specifically I must have pasted some random string at the beginning of the config file:

some_random_string<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">

After removing redundant characters problem was solved.

However changing the name of problematic file also get rid of the exception.