ASP.NET 4 Unleashed

Deploying Encrypted Web Configuration Files

If you need to copy an encrypted configuration file from one server to a new server, you must copy the keys used to encrypt the configuration file to the new server. Otherwise, your application can’t read encrypted sections of the configuration file on the new server.

Warning

You can’t copy an encrypted configuration file from one server to another when you use the DpapiProtectedConfigurationProvider. This section assumes that you use the RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider.

By default, the RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider uses a public/private key pair stored in a key container named NetFrameworkConfigurationKey. This key container is located at the following path:

\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application ...