500 - Internal Server Error - WEBcnx Fails to Load

If you can't get as far as the login page, there's a problem with some part of your installation that is preventing the site from loading. This is usually caused by a fault in the site's web.config file.

Symptoms

500 - Internal server error.

There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.

Cause

The web.config has a section defined in the body of the file but is missing a <configSections> definition. 

In the simplified example below, the <configSections> describes the expected Sections that should exist in the web.config. If one of those Sections exists but there is not a "section name" in the configuration section-handler declaration area at the top of the file (the bit between the <configSections></configSections>). In the example below, the Arden.WEBcnx.Workflow section is missing from the section-handler declaration are but it does exist in the body of the file.

<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="Arden.Core.Data" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler/>
    <section name="Arden.WEBcnx.Core" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler/>
    <section name="Arden.WEBcnx.Site" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler/>
  </configSections>
  
  <Arden.Core.Data>
    <add key="DataReaderReadChunkSize" value="65535"></add>
  </Arden.Core.Data>
  
  <Arden.WEBcnx.Core> 
    <add key="PublicSitesColumnName" value="ST_PUBLIC"></add>
    <add key="nServerLogEnabled" value="true"></add>
    <add key="ApplicationName" value="WEBcnx Panther"></add>
   </Arden.WEBcnx.Core>
   
  <Arden.WEBcnx.Workflow>
    <add key="Enabled" value="true" />
    <add key="WebRequestImpactConnectionName" value="" />
    <add key="WebRequestWEBcnxLoginID" value="" />
    <add key="WebRequestWEBcnxPassword" value="" />
  </Arden.WEBcnx.Workflow>
  
  <Arden.WEBcnx.Site>
  <add key="DefaultImpactConnectionName" value="Demo"></add>
  </Arden.WEBcnx.Site>

Solution

There are two options for fixing this problem. If you're unsure what you are doing, please consult a member of the WEBcnx support team.

1. The section in the configuration section-handler declaration area at the top of the file could be missing because someone has copied the main section from another file and mistakenly forgotten to also include the declaration of this in the configSection. Therefore, adding the missing section to the configuration section-handler declaration area at the top of the file should resolve the problem. You should carefully check that the correct section is added.
2. Someone has attempted to remove an unwanted configSection and having removed the section from the declaration area, they have not removed the section from the body of the file. Remove the erroneous, unreferenced section from the body of the web.config.

Still Not Working

If the above solution has not resolved your problem, you may have found another cause of this error. Please create a support ticket and describe the problem you're having in as much details as you can. If possible, please supply copies of your web.config for analysis.

Further Reading

• web.config