Config Error: This configuration section cannot be used at this path

Question

I\'ve encountered an error deploying a site to a server. When trying to load the home page, or access authentication on the new site in IIS, I get the error:

Answer 1

In my case, I got this error because I was operating on the wrong configuration file.

I was doing this:

Configuration config = serverManager.GetWebConfiguration(websiteName);
ConfigurationSection serverRuntimeSection = config.GetSection("system.webServer/serverRuntime");
serverRuntimeSection["alternateHostName"] = hostname;

instead of the correct code:

Configuration config = serverManager.GetApplicationHostConfiguration();
ConfigurationSection serverRuntimeSection = configApp.GetSection("system.webServer/serverRuntime", websiteName);
serverRuntimeSection["alternateHostName"] = hostname;

in other words, I was trying to operate on the website's web.config instead of the global file C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config, which has a section (or can have a section) for the website. The setting I was trying to change exists only in the applicationHost.config file.