Beginning .Net : List of server configuration files in .Net

Every ASP.NET server includes a number of configuration files, such as the machine.config , web.config file. This file is installed as a default .NET Framework installation. You can find "machine.config" file and and other server-specific configuration files in "C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.xxxxxx" folder. They have the default settings for ASP.NET Web applications on the server.

List of the server-wide configuration files :

• machine.config
• machine.config.comments
• machine.config.default
• web.config
• web.config.comments
• web.config.default
• web_hightrust.config
• web_hightrust.config.default
• web_lowtrust.config
• web_lowtrust.config.default
• web_mediumtrust.config
• web_mediumtrust.config.default
• web_minimaltrust.config
• web_minimaltrust.config.default

.Net Framework install machine.config , machine.config.default and machine.config.comments files.
The machine.config.default file is a backup of the machine.config file.
If you want to the factory setting of machine.config file, you simply copy the settings from the machine.config.default to the machine.config file.

The machine.config.comments file contains a description for each configuration section and explicit settings for the most commonly used values. machine.config.default and machine.config.comment files are not used by the .NET Framework runtime, they are installed in case you want to revert to default factory settings.

You can find a root - level web.config file within the same CONFIG folder as the machine.config.

By default, ASP.NET Web applications run under a full trust setting. You can see this setting at the <securityPolicy> and <trust> sections in the root - level web.config file.

Note : Let us know if any additional things you know about this topic. We will update our article accordingly that.

Begining .Net : ASP.Net Configuration file heirarchy levels

Here are details of ASP.Net Configuration file heirarchy levels : 

Configuration level	File name	File description
Server	Machine.config	The file contains the ASP.NET schema for all of the Web applications on the server. This file is at the highest level of the configuration merge hierarchy.
Root Web	Web.config	The file for the server is stored in the same directory as the Machine.config file and contains default values for most of the system.web configuration sections. At run time, this file is merged second from the top in the configuration hierarchy.
Web site	Web.config	The file for a specific Web site contains settings that apply to the Web site and inherit downward through all of the ASP.NET applications and subdirectories of the site.
ASP.NET application root directory	Web.config	The file for a specific ASP.NET application is located in the root directory of the application and contains settings that apply to the Web application and inherit downward through all of the subdirectories in its branch.
ASP.NET application subdirectory	Web.config	The file for an application subdirectory contains settings that apply to this subdirectory and inherit downward through all of the subdirectories in its branch.
Client application directory	ApplicationName.config	The file contains settings for a Windows client application (not a Web application).
IIS	ApplicationHost.config	ApplicationHost.config is the root file of the IIS 7.0 configuration system. It includes definitions of all sites, applications, virtual directories, and application pools, as well as global defaults for the Web server settings. It is in the following location: %windir%\system32\inetsrv\config