Patricio Treviño · 01 November, 2018 · 2 min read

Decrypt a configuration section in a configuration file hosted in IIS

Syntax

aspnet_regiis -pd <section> -app <virtualPath> [-location <subPath>] [-pkm]

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Option	Description
section	The section of the web.config to be encrypted.
virtualPath	The IIS website that hosts the web.config.
location	The subpath inside the IIS website that hosts the web.config.
pkm	Encrypts the machine config instead of the local config.

Example

      
        # Given a configuration fle like
      
        # <configuration>
      
        #   <configProtectedData>
      
        #     <providers>
      
        #       <add name="MyProtectedConfigurationProvider" 
      
        #            type="System.Configuration.RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider, ..." 
      
        #            keyContainerName="MyKeyContainer" 
      
        #            useMachineContainer="true" />
      
        #     </providers>
      
        #   </configProtectedData>
      
        # </configuration>
      
        $ cd "$env.WINDIR/Microsoft.NET/Framework64/v4.0.30319"
      
        $ .\aspnet_regiis -pd connectionStrings -app "/Default Website"
      
          Microsoft (R) ASP.NET RegIIS version 4.0.30319.18408
      
          Administration utility to install and uninstall ASP.NET on the local machine.
      
          Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.
      
          Decrypting configuration sections...
      
          Succeeded!

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References

How to: Decrypt a web.config

	# Given a configuration fle like
	# <configuration>
	# <configProtectedData>
	# <providers>
	# <add name="MyProtectedConfigurationProvider"
	# type="System.Configuration.RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider, ..."
	# keyContainerName="MyKeyContainer"
	# useMachineContainer="true" />
	# </providers>
	# </configProtectedData>
	# </configuration>

	$ cd "$env.WINDIR/Microsoft.NET/Framework64/v4.0.30319"
	$ .\aspnet_regiis -pd connectionStrings -app "/Default Website"
	Microsoft (R) ASP.NET RegIIS version 4.0.30319.18408
	Administration utility to install and uninstall ASP.NET on the local machine.
	Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
	Decrypting configuration sections...
	Succeeded!