There were a series of posts on various blogs about the VS 2005 version of the WDP not allowing replacement of the 'System.Net' section. This was a rather significant oversight, in my opinion, as the three parts of web.config you would most likely want to replace would be appSettings for site specific attributes, connectionStrings for the proper database configuration, and System.Net to set up site-generated email. That being said, there was talk in the forums about fixing for the next release. Indeed, in the release notes for WDP for 2008 there was mention of fixes for config file updates.

I installed VS 2008, the new WDP and created a new deployment project for my website. In the 'web.config file section replacements' section, I included

 System.Net=system.net.config;

And in 'system.net.config', I have:

 <system.net>
  <mailSettings>
    <smtp from="webmaster@foo.net">
      <network host="relay-hosting.server.net" password="" userName=""/>
    </smtp>
  </mailSettings>
</system.net>

 My source 'web.config' file has a nearly identical 'System.Net' section.
 

I continue to get the 'missing section' error. What am I missing here? I can't seem to find anything that will help me get past this.

John 

Hi jmslaby,

The replacement section you posted seems no problem. Please submit this issue to our Connect site. Actually we have public that feedback portal in the Visual Studio 2008 Web Deployment Projects downloading page:

Visual Studio® 2008 Web Deployment Projects – RTW
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0AA30AE8-C73B-4BDD-BB1B-FE697256C459&displaylang=en

Additional Information
    We are interested in your feedback! Here are instructions on how you can provide it.

        1. Click here to submit feedback.

You need to this:

system.net/mailSettings/smtp=system.net.config

Within 'system.net.config', have this:

<smtp from="webmaster@foo.net">
      <network host="relay-hosting.server.net" password="" userName=""/>
</smtp>
 

Thanks, that did the trick.