<div>
After taking the time and setting up all the tests I found that the only thing that seems to matter is the version of the origination object, after that everything uses that config file. &nbsp;So if you run a web application that is a 64-bit 4.0 DLL, my observations show that the .NET 64-bit 4.0 machine.config is read by all downstream DLLs.
</div>


After taking the time and setting up all the tests I found that the only thing that seems to matter is the version of the origination object, after that everything uses that config file.  So if you run a web application that is a 64-bit 4.0 DLL, my observations show that the .NET 64-bit 4.0 machine.config is read by all downstream DLLs.

<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
I understand that I will have multiple machine.config files on a machine, 1 per framework version. &nbsp;This brings me to a few questions.<br />
<br />
1) Is there a single config file somewhere that I can put common entries in? &nbsp;Specifically I am looking at a readonly connection string for a database that virtually every application we have needs. &nbsp;We have console apps, windows services, and web applications in 1.1, 2.0, 3.5, and 4.0.<br />
<br />
2) If I have a .NET 2.0 DLL called from a .NET 4.0 web application, which machine.config will the .NET 2.0 DLL be reading from?<br />
<br />
3) How does 64-bit frameworks work into this? &nbsp;If I have a 64-bit 4.0 app calling a 32-bit 2.0 DLL, which config file would the 32-bit 2.0 DLL read from?<br />
<br />
Rhetorical: Why couldn't they just name them framework.config and then have 1 common machine.config?<br />
<br />
Thanks.
</div>
</div>


I understand that I will have multiple machine.config files on a machine, 1 per framework version.  This brings me to a few questions.

1) Is there a single config file somewhere that I can put common entries in?  Specifically I am looking at a readonly connection string for a database that virtually every application we have needs.  We have console apps, windows services, and web applications in 1.1, 2.0, 3.5, and 4.0.

2) If I have a .NET 2.0 DLL called from a .NET 4.0 web application, which machine.config will the .NET 2.0 DLL be reading from?

3) How does 64-bit frameworks work into this?  If I have a 64-bit 4.0 app calling a 32-bit 2.0 DLL, which config file would the 32-bit 2.0 DLL read from?

Rhetorical: Why couldn't they just name them framework.config and then have 1 common machine.config?

Thanks.

machine.config

The .NET Framework is not specific to any one programming language; rather, it includes a library of functions that allows developers to rapidly build applications. Several supported languages include C#, VB.NET, C++ or ASP.NET.

.NET Programming

The successor to Active Server Pages, ASP.NET websites utilize the .NET framework to produce dynamic, data and content-driven web applications and services. ASP.NET code can be written using any .NET supported language. As of 2009, ASP.NET can also apply the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern to web applications

ASP.NET

C# is an object-oriented programming language created in conjunction with Microsoft’s .NET framework. Compilation is usually done into the Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL), which is then JIT-compiled to native code (and cached) during execution in the Common Language Runtime (CLR).