Question

For an ASP.NET MVC3 project, I decided to move from the standard SQL express membership provider to an SQL compact membership provider. I installed the microsoft universal provider nuget package (mentioned here: http://sqlcemembership.codeplex.com/).

This gave me the following error:

Unable to find the requested .Net Framework Data Provider.  It may not be installed.

After googling it, I found that I had to add the following to my web.config:

<system.data>
  <DbProviderFactories>
    <remove invariant="System.Data.SqlServerCe.4.0" />
    <add name="Microsoft SQL Server Compact Data Provider 4.0" invariant="System.Data.SqlServerCe.4.0" description=".NET Framework Data Provider for Microsoft SQL Server Compact" type="System.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeProviderFactory, System.Data.SqlServerCe, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91" />
  </DbProviderFactories>
</system.data>

Which I did. I am now stuck with the following error that I cannot seem to get rid of:

Failed to find or load the registered .Net Framework Data Provider.

The error occurs when I try to access the membership database through the Membership class.
What am I doing wrong? I’ve posted my entire web.config file below.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
      For more information on how to configure your ASP.NET application, please visit
      http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=152368
      -->
<configuration>
  <connectionStrings>
    <add name="LabManagerEntities" connectionString="metadata=res://*/Models.LabManagerEntities.csdl|res://*/Models.LabManagerEntities.ssdl|res://*/Models.LabManagerEntities.msl;provider=MySql.Data.MySqlClient;provider connection string=&quot;server=localhost;User Id=LabManager;password=LabManager;Persist Security Info=True;database=labmanager&quot;" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient" />
    <add name="ApplicationServices" connectionString="Data Source=|DataDirectory|\membership.sdf" providerName="System.Data.SqlServerCe.4.0" />
  </connectionStrings>
  <appSettings>
    <add key="webpages:Version" value="1.0.0.0" />
    <add key="ClientValidationEnabled" value="true" />
    <add key="UnobtrusiveJavaScriptEnabled" value="true" />
  </appSettings>
  <system.web>
    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0">
      <assemblies>
        <add assembly="System.Web.Abstractions, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Helpers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Routing, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.Mvc, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Web.WebPages, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35" />
        <add assembly="System.Data.Entity, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" />
      </assemblies>
    </compilation>
    <authentication mode="Forms">
      <forms loginUrl="~/Account/LogOn" timeout="2880" />
    </authentication>
    <membership defaultProvider="DefaultMembershipProvider">
      <providers>
        <clear />
        <add name="DefaultMembershipProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultMembershipProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" enablePasswordRetrieval="false" enablePasswordReset="true" requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false" requiresUniqueEmail="false" maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5" minRequiredPasswordLength="6" minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="0" passwordAttemptWindow="10" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </membership>
    <profile defaultProvider="DefaultProfileProvider">
      <providers>
        <clear />
        <add name="DefaultProfileProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultProfileProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </profile>
    <roleManager enabled="true" defaultProvider="DefaultRoleProvider">
      <providers>
        <clear />
        <add applicationName="/" name="AspNetWindowsTokenRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Security.WindowsTokenRoleProvider" />
        <add name="DefaultRoleProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultRoleProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </roleManager>
    <pages>
      <namespaces>
        <add namespace="System.Web.Helpers" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Ajax" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Mvc.Html" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.Routing" />
        <add namespace="System.Web.WebPages" />
      </namespaces>
    </pages>
    <httpRuntime maxRequestLength="104857600" />
    <sessionState mode="InProc" customProvider="DefaultSessionProvider">
      <providers>
        <add name="DefaultSessionProvider" type="System.Web.Providers.DefaultSessionStateProvider, System.Web.Providers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" connectionStringName="ApplicationServices" applicationName="/" />
      </providers>
    </sessionState>
  </system.web>
  <system.webServer>
    <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false" />
    <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" />
    <security>
      <requestFiltering>
        <requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="104857600" />
      </requestFiltering>
    </security>
  </system.webServer>
  <system.data>
    <DbProviderFactories>
      <remove invariant="System.Data.SqlServerCe.4.0" />
      <add name="Microsoft SQL Server Compact Data Provider 4.0" invariant="System.Data.SqlServerCe.4.0" description=".NET Framework Data Provider for Microsoft SQL Server Compact" type="System.Data.SqlServerCe.SqlCeProviderFactory, System.Data.SqlServerCe, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=89845dcd8080cc91" />
    </DbProviderFactories>
  </system.data>
  <runtime>
    <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
      <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Mvc" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" />
        <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-2.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0" />
      </dependentAssembly>
    </assemblyBinding>
  </runtime>
</configuration>

Answer 1

The solution is that SQL Server Compact is not a native part of the .NET framework, but must be installed separately. This installer can be downloaded here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17876