What is the purpose of machine.config file in .NET?

Machine.config file is a machine level configuration file that is installed automatically during Visual Studio .NET installation. Only one machine.config exists for a computer. Settings defined in this file apply to the entire machine. However you can define more specific application level settings in web.config file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
<configSections>
<section name="connectionStrings"
type="System.Configuration.ConnectionStringsSection, System.Configuration, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" requirePermission="false"/>
</configSections>
<runtime/>
<connectionStrings>
<add name="LocalSqlServer" connectionString="data source= .\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=SSPI; AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|aspnetdb.mdf;User Instance=true" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
</connectionStrings>
<system.data>
<DbProviderFactories>
<add name="Odbc Data Provider" invariant="System.Data.Odbc" description Odbc" type="System.Data.Odbc.OdbcFactory, System.Data, Version=2.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089"/>
</system.data>
<system.web/>
</configuration>

This is just a sample file. Many more tags are available in machine.config file.

Related Article: Difference Between Web.Config and Machine.Config in ASP.Net

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