ASP.NET 2.0 Has Not Been Registered

I got an error on a clean-install machine today (Vista 64, .Net 1-3.5 installed, VS.NET 2008) that read:

ASP.NET 2.0 has not been registered on the Web server. You need to manually configure you Web server for ASP.NET 2.0 in order for your site to run correctly, Press F1 for more details.

Before I get to the fix, I like to poke fun where I can.  When I press F1, I get nothing.  The help tries to update itself, then just “encounters an error” and shows me the help file for migrating a VS.NET 2002 project to 2008.  Also, I think it should read, “configure your Web server”.  Web is capitalized? Comma instead of a period? hehehe…k. I’m done.

Anyways…it’s a simple configuration thing in Vista’s “Features”.  Open up Control Panel and go to Programs.  On the left-hand side of the window is a link for “Turn Windows Features On or Off”, which you click.  Drill in until you find Internet Information Services –> World Wide Web Services –> Application Development Features and then make sure the ASP.NET box is checked off (it will also likely light up a few other boxes for you too).

Thar ya be.  You should be good to go for building ASP.NET web sites and services on IIS7 in Vista.

If you’re still having trouble, I have run into a case previously where there was an issue using a UNC path (and the IIS user didn’t have perms on the target dir).  You will get an error like

The requested page cannot be accessed because the related configuration data for the page is invalid.

  There are also a couple of similar errors that can be resolved here: MSDN KB942055