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Fix for ‘XML Parsing Error: not well-formed Line Number 1, Column 2′ Error

When you access an ASP.NET page in your browser, you may get an XML Parsing Error that says that the XML is not well formed. The error message also displays the page directive statement present in the 1st line of the .aspx file. First we will fix this error, then we will look at one possible reason why you may be getting this error in ASP.NET.

asp-net-xml-parsing-error-not-well-formed

Fix the ‘XML Parsing Error’

Click Start > Run, and type the following command depending on which ASP.NET framework is in use by the default web site in your IIS.

ASP.NET 2.0 Framework

%Windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

ASP.NET 1.1 Framework

%Windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

You should see a command window that is displayed briefly, that shows that ASP.NET is being installed. After the registration is successful, the window will be closed. register-asp-net-framework-with-iis

Now refresh the .aspx page that you got the XML Parser error for in the browser and your page should be rendered correctly.

Why did you get this error ?

I have seen this error happen to me in situations where I had installed IIS after the installing the .Net Framework. This make sense. If you install IIS after you install the .Net Framework, then the framework is not registered with IIS. So when a request for a .aspx page comes to IIS, it simply passes on the contents of the page as-is without processing it. So in effect, the browser receives the entire .aspx page’s code, tried to parse it as an XML file, encounters the parsing error at the second character in the page directive and stops.

Related: ASP.NET IIS Registration Tool

90 people commented!

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  1. Naved says:
    April 18, 2007 at 4:00 am

    Thanks for the tip! I am a asp.net newbie, and this really helped me to get started with learning it.
    -Naved

  2. Henrik says:
    May 2, 2007 at 10:00 am

    Thanx, this helped me a lot :)

  3. Lucky says:
    May 2, 2007 at 2:31 pm

    Thank you very much. It works

  4. Luke says:
    May 24, 2007 at 6:36 am

    Cheers worked.

  5. Jon says:
    June 4, 2007 at 4:51 am

    Thanks! This is a very clear and concise page and helped me out big time! Cheers!

  6. kali says:
    July 17, 2007 at 1:39 pm

    Thank you very much! It worked…

  7. Navpreet Khurmi says:
    July 31, 2007 at 1:12 pm

    thanks a lot. It really helped.

  8. Naveen says:
    September 10, 2007 at 1:24 pm

    thanks man it really helped me
    great thinking

  9. d prince raja sunder manoj says:
    September 28, 2007 at 5:37 am

    This is very clear and it is working for me now.
    Thanks a lot!

  10. Bruce says:
    October 5, 2007 at 4:40 pm

    On secured machines, this may also be caused if you’ve removed mappings for particular files in the IIS Manager. If this is happening, go into the IIS Manager, right-click on your web, choose properties. Then click the Home Directory tab and the Configuration button.

    Make sure the Application Extension for that particular extension is mapped to the aspnet_isapi.dll and at least the verbs “GET,POST” are in there.

  11. Rashmi says:
    November 20, 2007 at 5:26 am

    Thank you so much….very helpful tip…working for me now..thanks :)

  12. Vzar says:
    November 24, 2007 at 3:45 am

    I just google my problem and found this. Correct and perfect answer, thank you guy!

  13. amanda says:
    November 26, 2007 at 8:03 pm

    thank you! as others have said, this works perfectly. :)

  14. Aswani says:
    November 27, 2007 at 2:10 am

    i am new to asp.net … i developed a website in VS in which I access an XML file ..i wanted it to run as a browser independent one . I wrote different codes for IE and other browser both the codes were running well individually but when i combine them … it works well in IE but it does not work in MOzilla and i get the above error. Please help me out …..

  15. sam_almeida says:
    December 10, 2007 at 7:26 pm

    thanks a bunch!!

  16. nana says:
    December 23, 2007 at 10:05 am

    Thanks so much, it really help me!!

  17. Sop says:
    January 7, 2008 at 8:28 am

    I solved this problem, all my files were read only…and i unchecked read only…And it works..

  18. satya says:
    January 10, 2008 at 4:36 am

    I want to run an aspx file after uploading it to remote server. When i tried to run in browser, the same error is appearing. I didnt find any property in IIS manager of the server.Please help me.

  19. Nilesh says:
    January 20, 2008 at 3:52 am

    Thank you so much.

    It has solved my problem.

    Really Thanks from the heart.

  20. Masroor says:
    January 29, 2008 at 3:39 pm

    Thanks i am asp.net developer and this problem is really troubling me

  21. Mexus says:
    February 16, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    THX U wery much, real help for newbies

  22. Moataz says:
    February 27, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    Great work man

  23. VISHAL PAREKH says:
    March 4, 2008 at 1:18 am

    thanks,i have solved my problem.

    this is excellent,not because u give solution,but u given solution of issue,and also why it happens.

    thank u again.great

  24. Ryan says:
    March 7, 2008 at 12:56 am

    Within the website’s properties, there’s a tab for ASP.NET. My ASP.NET version was blank, but 2.0.50727 was listed in the drop-down menu. Choosing this version and hitting apply worked for me.

  25. Ryan says:
    March 7, 2008 at 12:58 am

    There’s a tab for ASP.NET in the website properties within IIS. My ASP.NET version was blank, but 2.x existed in the drop-down menu. Choosing this version and pressing apply solved my problem (well, I get a different error, but one that’s my fault).

  26. orech says:
    March 13, 2008 at 11:41 am

    Cool stuff, thanks a lot, very helpful.

  27. vincent kasyoki -kenya says:
    March 28, 2008 at 2:46 am

    My boss was very angry at me.Thanks so much for the support.

  28. Aarti says:
    March 29, 2008 at 3:41 am

    Hey, thanks!!!!
    It worked!! :)

  29. Oves Khan says:
    April 5, 2008 at 1:58 am

    Thank you Sir
    it helps me a lot

  30. Anybody says:
    April 6, 2008 at 11:54 pm

    Thank you very much.

  31. Preetam says:
    April 11, 2008 at 2:40 am

    hello,

    Thanks a lot for ur answer.. it helped me a lot.

  32. Carl Sposito says:
    May 7, 2008 at 10:18 am

    nice try..this did not work for me..any other possible causes?

  33. Me says:
    May 11, 2008 at 6:04 am

    Cheers, worked a treat!

  34. nikki says:
    May 12, 2008 at 2:41 am

    when i try to run my web with vs.net it works properly. And when i run it without vs.net this comes out. please help me. here is my email. siedexxx @ yahoo.com please send me ideas. i cant go on with my projects -_-

  35. Gaurav Ramesh Sharma says:
    May 12, 2008 at 6:25 am

    Thanks for this Tip!!
    It really worked.

  36. Bala says:
    May 13, 2008 at 11:44 am

    Thanks for help..

  37. vvvvvvvvv says:
    May 15, 2008 at 7:47 am

    Thanks for the tip! I am a asp.net newbie, and this really helped me to get started with learning it.

  38. disgruntledgiant says:
    May 21, 2008 at 11:34 am

    google brought me to yr spot and i don’t regret it.
    good work!

  39. Ashok says:
    June 5, 2008 at 7:28 am

    Thanks for all the efforts

  40. yvetty says:
    June 8, 2008 at 11:31 pm

    thank you, it worked! just like carl, are there any other causes?

  41. Kelvin says:
    June 19, 2008 at 9:40 am

    Thanks, you save my day!!!

  42. ToniB says:
    June 21, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    Thank you very much!!!
    I started to go nuts about this!

  43. Muhammad Ismail says:
    June 27, 2008 at 12:53 am

    Thanks a lot.

    I am really thankful keep it up to solve people’s problem God bless you and your team.

  44. Chipmunk says:
    July 10, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    You are a god among gods. I spent hours manually trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Many thanks.

  45. Amit says:
    July 11, 2008 at 6:11 am

    Thanks a lot !!
    This problem suffered me a lot
    Thanks again :)

  46. Subri says:
    July 12, 2008 at 10:59 am

    I don’t know but i still get the error

  47. Umair cheema says:
    July 14, 2008 at 9:36 pm

    Thank you….It really helped

  48. Annie says:
    July 20, 2008 at 9:49 am

    Thanks! I don’t understand it, but it’s fixed which is all I care about! Awesome!!!!

  49. Monica says:
    September 2, 2008 at 11:53 pm

    Thank you very much. Most importantly u have mentioned the reason for the cause that is a great help.

  50. lethach says:
    September 13, 2008 at 9:01 am

    Thanks. But i see an error Server Application Unavailable

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