IIS Express – 500.19 Cannot read configuration file – because it’s looking at the wrong path

Here is another possible solution that doesn’t involve fishing for the applicationhost.config file:

• Right click Web Project > Web > Project Url > (e.g. ‘localhost:5459’) and then increment the port number which will force a new entry in that file.

In my case I also needed to change authentication mode which can be done via:

• Select Web Project > press F4 > set Windows Authentication as needed (enabled in my case).