I am trying to solve a problem for one of my professors at school. He has a C# web project that he is trying to move from a computer running Windows Server 2008 to a newer machine running Windows Server 2016. It is being served with IIS and the students access the application by navigating to the computer's IP address from their own computers.
On the old computer, he simply copied the project folder into C:\inetpub\wwwroot and the application just runs when he navigates to localhost or to his IP address from another computer. However when he copies the project folder into C:\inetpub\wwwroot, the project does not run. Instead, this is the screen he gets. If you click on the 'autograder' folder (which is the project folder he is trying to host), this HTTP error occurs. The web.config file is located here - C:\inetpub\wwwroot\autograder\Bin\WebApplication1\WebApplication1\web.config
After looking around online for solutions, I have made sure that the wwwroot folder has the required permissions (Web.Config - Cannot read configuration file due to insufficient permissions), but I am not sure why the error says it cannot read the configuration file, nor what is different about Windows Server 2016 that is preventing the project from just running like it did on Windows Server 2008.
Here is the web.config file:
<?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>
<!-- For more information on Entity Framework configuration, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=237468 -->
<!-- add System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory -->
<section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=5.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false" />
</configSections>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="DefaultConnection" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" connectionString="Data Source=(LocalDb)\v11.0;Initial Catalog=aspnet-WebApplication1-20140618141327;Integrated Security=SSPI;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|\aspnet-WebApplication1-20140618141327.mdf" />
</connectionStrings>
<system.web>
<compilation debug="true" defaultLanguage="c#" targetFramework="4.0" />
<httpRuntime targetFramework="4.0" />
<pages>
<namespaces>
<!--add namespace="System.Web.Optimization" /-->
</namespaces>
<controls>
<add assembly="Microsoft.AspNet.Web.Optimization.WebForms" namespace="Microsoft.AspNet.Web.Optimization.WebForms" tagPrefix="webopt" />
</controls>
</pages>
<authentication mode="Forms">
<forms loginUrl="~/Account/Login" timeout="2880" defaultUrl="~/" />
</authentication>
<profile defaultProvider="DefaultProfileProvider">
<providers>
<add name="DefaultProfileProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultProfileProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" applicationName="/" />
</providers>
</profile>
<membership defaultProvider="DefaultMembershipProvider">
<providers>
<add name="DefaultMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultMembershipProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" enablePasswordRetrieval="false" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false" requiresUniqueEmail="false" maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="6" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0" passwordAttemptWindow="10" applicationName="/" />
</providers>
</membership>
<roleManager defaultProvider="DefaultRoleProvider">
<providers>
<add name="DefaultRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultRoleProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" applicationName="/" />
</providers>
</roleManager>
<!--
If you are deploying to a cloud environment that has multiple web server instances,
you should change session state mode from "InProc" to "Custom". In addition,
change the connection string named "DefaultConnection" to connect to an instance
of SQL Server (including SQL Azure and SQL Compact) instead of to SQL Server Express.
-->
<sessionState mode="InProc" customProvider="DefaultSessionProvider">
<providers>
<add name="DefaultSessionProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultSessionStateProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="DefaultConnection" />
</providers>
</sessionState>
</system.web>
<runtime>
<assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="DotNetOpenAuth.Core" publicKeyToken="2780ccd10d57b246" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-4.0.0.0" newVersion="4.1.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="DotNetOpenAuth.AspNet" publicKeyToken="2780ccd10d57b246" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.1.0.0" newVersion="4.1.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
</assemblyBinding>
</runtime>
<system.webServer>
<rewrite>
<rewriteMaps>
<rewriteMap name="start">
</rewriteMap>
</rewriteMaps>
</rewrite>
<defaultDocument>
<files>
<add value="Student.aspx" />
<add value="student" />
</files>
</defaultDocument>
</system.webServer>
</configuration>
I am new to Windows Server, IIS, and web hosting on Windows in general, so I would greatly appreciate any information on why this error is occurring or what changes I may have to make the project to get it to run on Windows Server 2016.
