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read from app.config instead of dll.config

I have simple console application. In application there is app.config and i have defined few settings which i fetch using ConfigurationManager class like below
var setting = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings[key]
This works ok when i am debugging on local env. Now when i deploy this code to develepment server then it reads setting from dll.config instead of app.config.
I tried to google but i am not able to find any clue.
Is it possible to change behaviour to read from app.config always? The reason i am asking is because i have added transformation for app.config. So for Dev server its called app.DevServer.config and it has some specific settings.

Yes, you can manually read your app.config file with code like this:
var configMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap { ExeConfigFilename = "app.DevServer.config" };
var config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(configMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None, true);
var setting = config.AppSettings.Settings[key];

Retrieve a custom configuration section

I want to make a library that will be used by either an exe (app.config) or a website (web.config). If I create a custom configuration section, and load it using
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
CustomSection section = config.Sections.OfType<CustomSection>().FirstOrDefault();
it won't run on web site. It throws a exePath must be specified when not running inside a stand alone exe. exception, since it's not an exe. I can use something like:
CustomSection db = (CustomSection )ConfigurationSettings.GetConfig("CustomSection");
But that relies on the section being properly named. Is there a way to get all the sections and iterate through them?

Will Aspnet_regiis encrypt connection string info stored in an external config file?

Right now we need a secure place to put our connection strings. We would like to place these connection strings in an external file separate from Web.config to make deployments easier, but we also want the information inside to be encrypted for security.
Is there any way to accomplish this using the Aspnet_regiis tool? I understand how to use it to encrypt sections within the Web.config file, and we like how encrypting with this method means that decryption happens for us automatically when the site is being used. But the information I find on this subject seems conflicting.
Encrypt custom config section in ASP.NET using aspnet_regiis
This link to another question seems to suggest that all I have to do is set the external config file up like normal, place the sensitive connection string info inside of it, and run the Aspnet_regiis tool as normal and the external file will be encrypted.
http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t722875-encrypting-external-config-section.html
However the response in that link states that Aspnet_regiis cannot be used to encrypt external sections.
So can this be done, and if not, is doing all of this programatically the only way to go?

I just tried this myself, and I can confirm that the Aspnet_regiis tool WILL indeed encrypt connection strings stored in an external config file. In the Web.config file I referred to the externally-defined connection strings using the "configSource" attribute, and they were encrypted after running the tool.

You can encrypt connection string using C#
ExeConfigurationFileMap configMap = new ExeConfigurationFileMap();
configMap.ExeConfigFilename = modulePath + "Web.Release.config";
System.Configuration.Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenMappedExeConfiguration(configMap, ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
System.Configuration.ConfigurationSection section = config.GetSection("connectionStrings");
if (!section.SectionInformation.IsProtected)
{
section.SectionInformation.ProtectSection("RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider");
config.Save();
}

Not able to persist new changes in appsetting section in app.config WPF?

Below is the code i am using to update or change the values in appsetting in app.config
Configuration config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
config.AppSettings.Settings["userName"].Value = username;
config.AppSettings.Settings["pwd"].Value = pwd;
config.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Modified, true);
ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection("appSettings");
i am using above code to change or update the settings in appsetting section at runtime and want the changes to persist so that when i run the application it should pick the new values from appsettings but here it doesn't happen so the changes made and saved at run time do not persist when i relaunch my application again it has the old default settings. Also i checked app.config in bin/debug but it too had the old values in appsettings. i refered various blogs and post here too as a reference but it got the same code as above but it did not persist the settings.have referred this post

I had the same problem while ago. I would have preferred to put this in a comment but I don't have that privilege. My answer might not be your case but I think is worth to be shared.
May I ask you where your bin folder is located? Windows 7 when you programmatically alter a file that isn't in a user accessible space creates a copy of that file in a Roaming space and there the file will stay. Every time you try to access the file (like your app.config) W7 transparently redirect your readings/writings to this file, so there's a chance that you are modifying the file in the roaming space, leaving the one you are lookin unaltered.
Are the changes you are making still there the successive time you start the application?
Disclaimer/Apology: I'm not an experienced user so if I am saying silly things let me know and I will remove this comment.

See below(from MSDN) and remember app.config is in your project. .exe.config is the actual file name.
Client applications use a global configuration that applies to all users, separate configurations that apply to individual users, and configurations that apply to roaming users. The userLevel parameter determines the location of the configuration file being opened by indicating whether it has no user level (the configuration file is in the same directory as the application) or has a per-user level (the configuration file is in an application settings path determined by the user level).
Specify which configuration to get by passing one of the following values for userLevel:
To get the Configuration object that applies to all users, set userLevel to None.
To get the local Configuration object that applies to the current user, set userLevel to PerUserRoamingAndLocal.
To get the roaming Configuration object that applies to the current user, set userLevel to PerUserRoaming.
NoteNote
To get the Configuration object for a resource, your code must have read permissions on all the configuration files from which it inherits settings. To update a configuration file, your code must additionally have write permissions for both the configuration file and the directory in which it exists.

i got my solution of above problem, my goal was to persist changes done at run time at application or user level. Initially i tried using App.config where i kept default settings for application in appsettings section of app.config, but later after research i got to refer i got to know appsetting does not persist the changes, instead you can use userSettings section where under YourApplication.Property.Settings you can give your userlevel settings and it worked for me. To do this you do not need to go to App.config to do it manually, rather you can do it from the property window of project.
Right Click on your project -> Select Settings Tab on the left-> Now on the right hand side you will see the Resource section , give the ResourceName, Type, Scope and its value and you are done. The same value can be access and change dynamically from Code as well.
Below are Code Excerpt for the same --
Accessing Settings Value
enter code here
userName = Properties.Settings.Default.UserName;
pwd = Properties.Settings.Default.PWD;
Saving New Settings Back
enter code here
Properties.Settings.Default.UserName = userName.ToString();
Properties.Settings.Default.PWD = newPWD..ToString();
Properties.Settings.Default.Save();
And when you will launch your application next time you will get the new changed settings as your default settings.
I hope that helps
Thanks Guys
VJ

App.config - encrypted section error:

I have an application that encrypts a section in the configuration file. In the first time that I try to read the encrypted section from the config file I get an error message: "Unrecognized attribute 'configProtectionProvider'. Note that attribute names are case-sensitive. "
config = ConfigurationManager.OpenExeConfiguration(ConfigurationUserLevel.None);
// Get the section in the file.
ConfigurationSection section = config.GetSection("EncryptedSection");
if (section != null)
{
// Protect the section.
section.SectionInformation.ProtectSection("RsaProtectedConfigurationProvider");
section.SectionInformation.ForceSave = true;
// Save the change.
config.Save(ConfigurationSaveMode.Modified);
}
ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection("EncryptedSection");
Properties.Settings.Default.Reset();
//This is the part where I read the encrypted section:
ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection("EncryptedSection");
System.Collections.IDictionary HSMMasterKeyConfig = (System.Collections.IDictionary)System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection("EncryptedSection");
This only happens in the first time that I try to read the encrypted section. I have noticed that the .config file is getting updated immediately after the first save but from some reason I need to restart the application in order to use the encrypted section.

Have you read through this...
http://bytes.com/groups/net/521818-configurationerrorexception-when-reading-protected-config-section
... as it appears to be a conversation involving an MSFT support engineer that directly maps to your situation.

The best way to do this will be to encrypt the app.config sections during installation only. Add an installer class to your project and override the Install method in the class. In this method you should perform the Encryption. You must call base.Install at the end of your overridden Install method. In the Setup Project goto Custom Actions and locate the Install custom action to be pointed with Your Project output [exe or assembly] which contains the definition of your Installer class implementation. This way it will Encrypt your app.Config sections during an installation straight and you will not face this problem. The application will automatically use DPAPI provider to read/write through sections or settings.

For your reference the issue was that the process that was trying to encrypt the config section didn't have admin rights. I added this process to the administrators group and that solved it.

I just ran into the same problem today. Normally, whenever I start an application where the config is in encrypted I always check the config on startup to determine if it's protected. If not the it I follow the standard SectionInformation.ProtectSection method. This is always my first step but today for some reason I decided to reference something from the config before I performed my protection check and got the "Unrecognized attribute 'configProtectionProvider'. Note that attribute names are case-sensitive. " error. All you have to do is run protection code before you reference the config within your normal code and you will no longer have the error.

Try running your Exe in seperate Application Domain. Once your application is loaded in the new AppDomain, check if the Sections are encrypted or not. If not then Encrypt the section and trigger the AppDomain to unload and reload with your executable again.