aspnet_regiis fails (0x80131047) trying to encrypt connectionStrin

[Marc B.]

I've been beating my head against the wall trying to do what appears to be
really straight forward. I've been attempting the Walkthrough: Creating and
Exporting an RSA Key Container
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2w117ede.aspx). Steps 1-3 work
fine but step 4 fails every time:

1. Create new machine-level RSA key container works just fine
(aspnet_regiis -pc "MyKeys" -exp)

2. Grant Read Access to an RSA Encryption Key works just fine
(aspnet_regiis -pa "MyKeys" "NT AUTHORITY\NETWO RK SERVICE")
(aspnet_regiis -pa "MyKeys" "DEVMACHINE\ASP NET")

3. Specify a Protected Configuration Provider works just fine (site runs
fine under IIS, can browse from local and remote IE)
In <configurations ection of web.config:
<connectionStri ngs>
<add name="SqlServic es" connectionStrin g="Data
Source=localhos t;Integrated Security=SSPI;I nitial Catalog=Northwi nd;" />
</connectionStrin gs>

<configProtecte dData>
<providers>
<add name="MyProvide r"
type="System.Co nfiguration.Rsa ProtectedConfig urationProvider ,
System.Configur ation, Version=2.0. 0.0,
Culture=neutral , PublicKeyToken= b03f5f7f11d50a3 a,
processorArchit ecture=MSIL"
keyContainerNam e="MyKeys"
useMachineConta iner="true" />
</providers>
</configProtected Data>

4. Encrypt sections of web.config fails every time with message:

Encrypting configuration section...
The given assembly name or codebase was invalid. (Exception from HRESULT:
0x80131047)
Failed!

Every way I try fails the same way
(aspnet_regiis -pe "connectionStri ngs" -app "/MyWebSite" -prov "MyProvider ")
(aspnet_regiis -pef "connectionStri ngs" "c:\inetpub\www root\MyWebSite" -prov
"MyProvider ")

(I'm running XP pro w/SP2, VS 2005, .Net Framework v2.0.50727, IIS 5.1,
windows update is current)

What does this error mean in this situation and how do I go about figuring
out what the problem is?

[Marc B.]

Never mind, I figured it out (and I can't believe more people haven't run
into this and noone's fixed the root of the problem).

Like most Walkthroughs and sample code snippets, I make a habbit of copying
from the web page and pasting into Visual Studio. The problem with this
Walkthrough is that the type property (in the add provider section of
configProtected Data) contains a space character in the part where it shows
"Version=2. 0. 0.0," (good thing aspnet_regiis gave a helpful error message!)
Anyway, removing the space ("Version=2.0.0 .0,") fixes the problem.

"Marc B." wrote:

I've been beating my head against the wall trying to do what appears to be
really straight forward. I've been attempting the Walkthrough: Creating and
Exporting an RSA Key Container
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/2w117ede.aspx). Steps 1-3 work
fine but step 4 fails every time:

1. Create new machine-level RSA key container works just fine
(aspnet_regiis -pc "MyKeys" -exp)

2. Grant Read Access to an RSA Encryption Key works just fine
(aspnet_regiis -pa "MyKeys" "NT AUTHORITY\NETWO RK SERVICE")
(aspnet_regiis -pa "MyKeys" "DEVMACHINE\ASP NET")

3. Specify a Protected Configuration Provider works just fine (site runs
fine under IIS, can browse from local and remote IE)
In <configurations ection of web.config:
<connectionStri ngs>
<add name="SqlServic es" connectionStrin g="Data
Source=localhos t;Integrated Security=SSPI;I nitial Catalog=Northwi nd;" />
</connectionStrin gs>

<configProtecte dData>
<providers>
<add name="MyProvide r"
type="System.Co nfiguration.Rsa ProtectedConfig urationProvider ,
System.Configur ation, Version=2.0. 0.0,
Culture=neutral , PublicKeyToken= b03f5f7f11d50a3 a,
processorArchit ecture=MSIL"
keyContainerNam e="MyKeys"
useMachineConta iner="true" />
</providers>
</configProtected Data>

4. Encrypt sections of web.config fails every time with message:

Encrypting configuration section...
The given assembly name or codebase was invalid. (Exception from HRESULT:
0x80131047)
Failed!

Every way I try fails the same way
(aspnet_regiis -pe "connectionStri ngs" -app "/MyWebSite" -prov "MyProvider ")
(aspnet_regiis -pef "connectionStri ngs" "c:\inetpub\www root\MyWebSite" -prov
"MyProvider ")

(I'm running XP pro w/SP2, VS 2005, .Net Framework v2.0.50727, IIS 5.1,
windows update is current)

What does this error mean in this situation and how do I go about figuring
out what the problem is?