Problem encrypting membership element in web.config

Question

I am trying to encrypt the \"system.web.membership\" element within the Web.Config of our .Net application to secure username and password to Active Directory. I am using th

Answer 1

I know that your issue has already been solved, but for other people getting this error message, it seems that only certain sections of the web.config can be encrypted. I was trying to encrypt the SMTP settings in my web config:

This worked:

aspnet_regiis.exe -pef "system.net/mailSettings/smtp" "path_to_site" -prov "DataProtectionConfigurationProvider"

but these didn't:

aspnet_regiis.exe -pef "system.net/mailSettings" "path_to_site" -prov "DataProtectionConfigurationProvider"

aspnet_regiis.exe -pef "system.net" "path_to_site" -prov "DataProtectionConfigurationProvider"