ASP.Net error: “The identity of application pool is invalid”

Question

My ASP.Net web service cannot run because the application pool is unable to start due to the identity crisis it\'s experiencing.

The user I\'m using in the app pool is a

Answer 1

Make sure the user account trying to access the app pool is a member of the IIS_USRS group in AD.

Answer 2

In my case the problem was that I was trying to use a domain account while the domain controller had an issue with my machine. I had just created a new VM with a newer version of Windows (Windows 10) and had asked the domain administrator to add it to the domain, but I kept the same hostname as on my other machine.

Also, in the Event Viewer I found error messages concerning the domain controller and such, that gave me a clue.

I had to remove the machine from the domain and add it again, and the problem was solved.

Answer 3

Do you have a group policy somewehere that is pulling the account out of the iis_wpg group? We have this (or a similar) problem frequently when, for whatever reason, a worker process or a service needs to run under a custom account.

Answer 4

What's happening is you are likely running your application inside a pool that is running applications using a different version of the .NET framework. Make sure that all your applications inside that pool are running the same version. If those apps must run under a different version than this one, create a new pool and add your app to it.

Answer 5

Have you enabled "Log on as a service" for the account?

Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy -> Local Policies -> User Rights Assignment -> Log on as a service

(make sure your account is in this list directly or indirectly; it has also been suggested that you should set: Access this computer from the network; Deny logon locally; Log on as a batch job)

Also - ensure that the account has "Read & Execute", "List Folder Contents" and "Read" access to the file system that underpins the web site/application.

Answer 6

I know this is simple, but have you checked the password is correct?