Log4Net Configuration Schema error for 1.2.9 version while running on windows services

[mahadevblore]

I have a windows service which is written in C# and uses the log4net 1.2.9 for logging.

While trying to start the application from services, we get the following error:

Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException
at System.Configuration.ConfigurationSchemaErrors.ThrowIfErrors(Boolean)
at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.ThrowIfParseErrors(System.Configuration.ConfigurationSchemaErrors)
at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.ThrowIfInitErrors()
at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.EnsureInit(System.String)

Exception Info: System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException
at System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.PrepareConfigSystem()
at System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.GetSection(System.String)
at System.Configuration.PrivilegedConfigurationManager.GetSection(System.String)
at System.Diagnostics.DiagnosticsConfiguration.GetConfigSection()
at System.Diagnostics.DiagnosticsConfiguration.Initialize()
at System.Diagnostics.DiagnosticsConfiguration.get_IndentSize()
at System.Diagnostics.TraceInternal.InitializeSettings()
at System.Diagnostics.TraceInternal.WriteLine(System.String)
at log4net.Util.LogLog.EmitErrorLine(System.String)
at log4net.Util.LogLog.Error(System.String, System.Exception)
at log4net.Util.LogLog..cctor()

Exception Info: System.TypeInitializationException
at log4net.Util.LogLog.Debug(System.String)
at log4net.Core.LoggerManager..cctor()

Exception Info: System.TypeInitializationException
at log4net.Core.LoggerManager.GetRepository(System.Reflection.Assembly)
at log4net.Config.XmlConfigurator.Configure()
at CustomService.Main(System.String[])

The configuration files has following things for log4net configuration:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">
    </sectionGroup>
    <sectionGroup name="EncryptionSettings">
      <section name="EncryptionConfig" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler,system,Version=1.0.3300.0,Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089,Custom=null"/>
      <section name="PGPConfig" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler,system,Version=1.0.3300.0,Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089,Custom=null"/>
      <section name="PGPErrorCodes" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler,system,Version=1.0.3300.0,Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089,Custom=null"/>
    </sectionGroup>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler,log4net" />
  </configSections>
  <appSettings>
</appSettings>
<log4net>
    <root>
      <level value="ALL" />
      <appender-ref ref="RollingLogFileAppender" />
      <appender-ref ref="LogFileAppender" />
    </root>
    <appender name="RollingLogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
      <level value="ALL" />
      <file value="logs\\file.log" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <maxSizeRollBackups value="4" />
      <maximumFileSize value="10MB" />
      <rollingStyle value="Size" />
      <staticLogFileName value="true" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <header value="[Header]&#xD;&#xA;" />
        <footer value="[Footer]&#xD;&#xA;" />
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] - %message%newline" />
      </layout>
    </appender>
    <appender name="LogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
      <file value="logs\\file.xml" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <header value="[Header]&#xA;" />
        <footer value="[Footer]&#xA;" />
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] &lt;%property{auth}&gt; - %message%newline" />
      </layout>
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.XMLLayout" />
    </appender>
  </log4net>
</configuration>

The exe name and exe.config files names are the same
customService.exe and customService.exe.config

Any idea why this error is coming up?

I tried multiple things like changing to different config settings by looking at documentation example but none of them checks out.

Please help with this.

NOTE: The code repository is inaccessible so any code changes are not possible at this point of time.

[FreeAndNil]

@mahadevblore can you post your config file?
BTW log4net 1.x is out of support for 12 years now - that's a very long time.

[mahadevblore]

Thanks @FreeAndNil for the reply.

But right now, we are just trying to figure out the underlying issue.

Any help in knowing the root cause for this error in that stack trace would be helpful for us.

Please guide us on how to proceed.

[FreeAndNil]

@mahadevblore can you post your config file?

@mahadevblore see my previous comment

[mahadevblore]

Sorry, I thought I had put the config file contents in the discussion thread.

Here we go:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">
    </sectionGroup>
    <sectionGroup name="EncryptionSettings">
      <section name="EncryptionConfig" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler,system,Version=1.0.3300.0,Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089,Custom=null"/>
      <section name="PGPConfig" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler,system,Version=1.0.3300.0,Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089,Custom=null"/>
      <section name="PGPErrorCodes" type="System.Configuration.NameValueSectionHandler,system,Version=1.0.3300.0,Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089,Custom=null"/>
    </sectionGroup>
    <section name="log4net" type="log4net.Config.Log4NetConfigurationSectionHandler,log4net" />
  </configSections>
  <appSettings>
   
  </appSettings>
  <log4net>
   
    <root>
      <level value="ALL" />
      <appender-ref ref="RollingLogFileAppender" />
      <appender-ref ref="LogFileAppender" />
    </root>
    <appender name="RollingLogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.RollingFileAppender">
      <level value="ALL" />
      <file value="logs\\OutgoingFileMgmt.log" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <maxSizeRollBackups value="4" />
      <maximumFileSize value="10MB" />
      <rollingStyle value="Size" />
      <staticLogFileName value="true" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <header value="[Header]&#xD;&#xA;" />
        <footer value="[Footer]&#xD;&#xA;" />
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] - %message%newline" />
      </layout>
    </appender>
    <appender name="LogFileAppender" type="log4net.Appender.FileAppender">
      <file value="logs\\OutgoingFileMgmt.xml" />
      <appendToFile value="true" />
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.PatternLayout">
        <header value="[Header]&#xA;" />
        <footer value="[Footer]&#xA;" />
        <conversionPattern value="%date [%thread] %-5level %logger [%ndc] &lt;%property{auth}&gt; - %message%newline" />
      </layout>
      <layout type="log4net.Layout.XMLLayout" />
    </appender>
  </log4net>
  
  <startup>
    <supportedRuntime version="v4.0" sku=".NETFramework,Version=v4.0" />
  </startup>
  <system.web>
    <membership defaultProvider="ClientAuthenticationMembershipProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="ClientAuthenticationMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.ClientServices.Providers.ClientFormsAuthenticationMembershipProvider, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" serviceUri="" />
      </providers>
    </membership>
    <roleManager defaultProvider="ClientRoleProvider" enabled="true">
      <providers>
        <add name="ClientRoleProvider" type="System.Web.ClientServices.Providers.ClientRoleProvider, System.Web.Extensions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" serviceUri="" cacheTimeout="86400" />
      </providers>
    </roleManager>
  </system.web>
  <system.diagnostics>
    <trace autoflush="true" />
    <sources>
      <source name="System.Net.Sockets">
        <listeners>
          <add name="MyTraceFile"/>
        </listeners>
      </source>
      <source name="System.Net">
        <listeners>
          <add name="MyTraceFile"/>
        </listeners>
      </source>
    </sources>
    <sharedListeners>
      <add name="MyTraceFile"
        type="System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener"
        initializeData="logs\SshNetTrace.log"/>
    </sharedListeners>
    <switches>
      <add name="System.Net" value="Verbose" />
      <add name="System.Net.Sockets" value="Verbose" />
    </switches>
 </system.diagnostics>
</configuration>

[mahadevblore]

Here is the complete config file.

config.txt

one last look? @FreeAndNil to see if its formatting or config file issue?

[FreeAndNil]

The config file seems legit.
You can try to remove the log4net section and the corresponding entry in configSections.
If the service starts, it is probably a log4net problem.
If it doesn't start, it is something completely different. Maybe some assembly is missing?
You can take a look at the process on the Prod machine (with process explorer) an check which assemblies are loaded and then double check whether they are present on the new machine.

[mahadevblore]

Thanks for the input @FreeAndNil . Will give the process explorer a try as it might give some clue.

[mahadevblore]

U were right @FreeAndNil about removing the log4net sections from config file but the error still persists.

Seems like they are using XMLConfigurator.Config() which is looking for something in config?

Not sure why the error is still in place after removing the config sections and log4net sections from xml.

[mahadevblore]

Will try to use process manager from Prod environment to see if we can figure out something.