Configuring Applications

The .NET Framework gives developers and administrators control and flexibility over the way applications run. An administrator can control which protected resources an application can access, which versions of assemblies an application will use, and where remote applications and objects are located. Developers can put settings in configuration files, eliminating the need to recompile an application every time a setting changes. This section describes what can be configured and why configuring an application might be useful.

In This Section

• Configuration How-to Topics
  Provides links to how-to topics on configuring applications

• Configuration Files
  Describes the syntax of configuration files and provides information about machine, application, and security configuration files.

• How to: Locate Assemblies by Using DEVPATH
  Describes how to direct the runtime to use the DEVPATH environment variable when searching for assemblies.

• Redirecting Assembly Versions
  Describes how to specify the location of an assembly and which version of an assembly to use.

• Specifying an Assembly's Location
  Describes how to specify where the runtime should search for an assembly.

• Configuring Cryptography Classes
  Describes how to map an algorithm name to a cryptography class and an object identifier to a cryptography algorithm.

• How to: Disable Concurrent Garbage Collection
  Describes how to specify whether the runtime should run the garbage collector concurrently.

• How to: Create a Publisher Policy
  Describes when and how you should add a publisher policy file to specify assembly redirection and code base settings.

• Specifying Which Runtime Version to Use
  Describes how to specify the runtime version to use for an application.

• Configuring Security Policy
  Describes how to configure security policy.

Related Sections

• Configuration File Schema for the .NET Framework
  Provides the schema for configuration files.

• Registering Remote Objects Using Configuration Files
  Describes how to register remote objects in configuration files.

• ASP.NET Web Site Administration
  Describes how to configure ASP.NET applications.

• ASP.NET Configuration Settings
  Describes each of the configuration sections within the <system.web> section of Web.config files and shows the full syntax that each supports.

• Mscorcfg.msc (.NET Framework Configuration Tool)
  Describes how to use the configuration tool to configure applications and computers.

• Caspol.exe (Code Access Security Policy Tool)
  Describes how to examine and modify machine, user, and enterprise level code access security policies.

• Assemblies in the Common Language Runtime
  Provides an overview of assemblies.

• Remote Objects
  Discusses remoting with .NET Framework applications.