The type initializer for 'System.Data.Entity.Internal.AppConfig' threw an exception

I'm working with EF5 in a MVC 4 aspnet website. Locally, everything works just fine, but when I publish it to the IIS and try to enter, I get the error

"The type initializer for 'System.Data.Entity.Internal.AppConfig' threw an exception."

Detailed exception

An error occurred creating the configuration section handler for entityFramework: Configuration for DbContext type 'GdpSoftware.Server.Data.GdpSoftwareDbContext, GdpSoftware.Server.Data' is specified multiple times in the application configuration. Each context can only be configured once. (E:\App\web.config line 104)

I checked previous question in StackOverflow, and I already uninstalled and reinstalled through Nuget EntityFramework and checked that each reference to it in each project is EF5. I also checked that the selected framework in each project is 4.5.

Any idea, What might be causing the issue? Thanks! Guillermo.

web.config

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
  For more information on how to configure your ASP.NET application, please visit
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=169433
  -->
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=5.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />

  <!-- For more information on Entity Framework configuration, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=237468 --></configSections>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="GdpSoftwareConnectionString" connectionString="Persist Security Info=False;User ID=user;Password=password;Initial Catalog=databasename;Data Source=server" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
    <add name="GdpSoftware.Server.Data.GdpSoftwareDbContext" connectionString="GdpSoftware.Server.Data.GdpSoftwareDbContext_ConnectionString" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
    <add name="GdpSoftware.Server.Ui.Web.Models.UsersContext" connectionString="GdpSoftware.Server.Ui.Web.Models.UsersContext_ConnectionString" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
  </connectionStrings>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="webpages:Version" value="2.0.0.0" />
    <add key="webpages:Enabled" value="false" />
    <add key="PreserveLoginUrl" value="true" />
    <add key="ClientValidationEnabled" value="true" />
    <add key="UnobtrusiveJavaScriptEnabled" value="true" />
  </appSettings>
  <system.web>
    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.5" />
    <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.5" />
    <authentication mode="Forms">
      <forms loginUrl="~/Account/Login" timeout="2880" />
    </authentication>
    <pages>
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Helpers" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Optimization" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.WebPages" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
    <!-- BEGIN - TO SEE THE ERRORS ON THE DEPLOYMENT-->
    <customErrors mode="Off" />
    <!-- END - TO SEE THE ERRORS ON THE DEPLOYMENT-->
  </system.web>
  <system.webServer>
    <!-- BEGIN - TO SEE THE ERRORS ON THE DEPLOYMENT-->
    <httpErrors errorMode="Detailed" />
    <asp scriptErrorSentToBrowser="true" />
    <!-- END - TO SEE THE ERRORS ON THE DEPLOYMENT-->
    <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />
    <handlers>
      <remove name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-ISAPI-4.0_32bit" />
      <remove name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-ISAPI-4.0_64bit" />
      <remove name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-Integrated-4.0" />
      <add name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-ISAPI-4.0_32bit" path="*." verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE,PATCH,OPTIONS" modules="IsapiModule" scriptProcessor="%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_isapi.dll" preCondition="classicMode,runtimeVersionv4.0,bitness32" responseBufferLimit="0" />
      <add name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-ISAPI-4.0_64bit" path="*." verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE,PATCH,OPTIONS" modules="IsapiModule" scriptProcessor="%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_isapi.dll" preCondition="classicMode,runtimeVersionv4.0,bitness64" responseBufferLimit="0" />
      <add name="ExtensionlessUrlHandler-Integrated-4.0" path="*." verb="GET,HEAD,POST,DEBUG,PUT,DELETE,PATCH,OPTIONS" type="System.Web.Handlers.TransferRequestHandler" preCondition="integratedMode,runtimeVersionv4.0" />
    </handlers>
    <staticContent>
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".mustache" mimeType="text/plain" />
    </staticContent>
    <security>
      <requestFiltering>
        <fileExtensions>
          <add fileExtension=".mustache" allowed="true" />
        </fileExtensions>
      </requestFiltering>
    </security>
  </system.webServer>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Helpers" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.0.0.0" newVersion="4.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="2.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Castle.Windsor" publicKeyToken="407dd0808d44fbdc" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-3.2.0.0" newVersion="3.2.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Newtonsoft.Json" publicKeyToken="30ad4fe6b2a6aeed" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.5.0.0" newVersion="4.5.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-1.0.0.0" newVersion="1.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="Castle.Core" publicKeyToken="407dd0808d44fbdc" culture="neutral" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-3.2.0.0" newVersion="3.2.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
  <entityFramework>
    <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework" />
    <contexts>
      <context type="GdpSoftware.Server.Data.GdpSoftwareDbContext, GdpSoftware.Server.Data" disableDatabaseInitialization="true">
        <databaseInitializer type="System.Data.Entity.MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion`2[[GdpSoftware.Server.Data.GdpSoftwareDbContext, GdpSoftware.Server.Data], [GdpSoftware.Server.Data.Migrations.Configuration, GdpSoftware.Server.Data]], EntityFramework" />
      </context>
    </contexts>
  </entityFramework>
</configuration>

Do the following in the App.config file,

  1. Put the connectionStrings element is after the configSections element.
  2. Put the startup element after the connectionStrings element.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <configuration>
   <configSections>
         <section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=4.3.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" />
   </configSections>
   <connectionStrings>
         <add name="SchedulingContext" connectionString="Data Source=XXX\SQL2008R2DEV;Initial Catalog=YYY;Persist Security Info=True;User ID=sa;Password=XXX"   providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
   </connectionStrings>
   <startup>
        <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5" />
  </startup>       
 </configuration>

I needed to change by defaultConnectionFactory to be SqlConnectionFactory instead of the default

<entityFramework>
  <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework">
    <parameters>
      <parameter value="<My Connection String>" />
    </parameters>
  </defaultConnectionFactory>
</entityFramework>

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/davidobando/archive/2012/08/14/changing-ef-s-default-provider-from-localdb-to-sql-server.aspx


I Found that removing the references to Entity Framework and installing the latest version of Entity Framework from NuGet fixed the issue. It recreates all the required entries for you during install.


I have broken my head over this issue, and finally here's what worked for me:-

Step1 : Uninstall Entity framework using Nuget package manager

Step2: Delete Entityframework element from App.config

Step3: Reinstall desired version of Entity Framework.

Step4: delete Migrations table and Migrations folder.

Step5: Enable Migrations and Add Migration and Update database