Using the encrypted web.config file

Question

My goal is to make web.config unreadable by external users, but my application should have access to it. Is there any way to do this?

I tried the following way, but how to configure the application to use a string instead of web.config?

I want to encrypt my web.config file so that others do not open the file using any editor, such as notepad. But my application should be able to use the same web.config file. I could encrypt the web.config file and decrypt it inside the application, and I saved the entire web.config file to a string file. Now I want to use this string variable instead of web.config (now in encrypted form, which the application cannot access).

Answer 1

There is a built-in mechanism for this, see the tutorial:

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2006/01/09/434893.aspx

Answer 2

To do this, use the Aspnet_regiis.exe utility .