The type initializer for 'System.Web.Http.GlobalConfiguration' threw an exception

I have added a new Web API project. I install Cors

PM> Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi.Cors -Pre

Then when I run my project, I get this error:

The type initializer for 'System.Web.Http.GlobalConfiguration' threw an exception.

This is my inner exception:

{"Attempt by method 'System.Web.Http.GlobalConfiguration..cctor()' to access field 'System.Web.Http.GlobalConfiguration.CS$<>9__CachedAnonymousMethodDelegate2' failed."}

I came across the same issue and found a blog post on it. According to this blog post if you use the release candidate it should fix the error

Install-Package Microsoft.AspNet.WebApi -IncludePrerelease

From here: http://wp.sjkp.dk/webapi-and-cors-enabled-rest-services/

This worked for me :D

In other words, it was fixed in 5.1.0-rc1 release.

I had this problem using NET 4.6.1 and after may hours of research removing this from web.config finally fixed the issue:

<runtime>
<dependentAssembly>
     <assemblyIdentity name="System.Net.Http" publicKeyToken="b03f5f7f11d50a3a" culture="neutral" />
     <bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.1.1.0" newVersion="4.1.1.0" />
   </dependentAssembly>
</runtime>