Entity Framework Migrations: error on web server only - entity-framework

Question

error 0175: The specified store provider cannot be found in the configuration, or is not valid
I am using Entity Framework Code-First Migrations and everything is great locally.
My DB is SQLServer 2008. (Also using SQL CE for local development)
I can use the live SQL Server db connection string locally with no problem.
Here is the Migration code in _appStart.cshtml:
#using EF = System.Data.Entity;
#using TCommon = Told.Web.Common.Logic;
#{
// Manually initialize
var initializer = new EF.MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion<TCommon.CommonContext, TCommon.Migrations.Configuration>();
System.Data.Entity.Database.SetInitializer(initializer);
initializer.InitializeDatabase(new TCommon.CommonContext());
// DB Maintenance
TCommon.AppUserLogic.CleanDatabase();
// Asp.Net
WebSecurity.InitializeDatabaseConnection("ToldDB", "UserProfile", "UserId", "Email", true);
// Common
TCommon.AppStart.Run();
}
This works great locally. Either against a SQL CE or against my live database. It ran fine locally to migrate my live database to the latest version.
However, when I put it on my web server, it throws this exception:
Exception
Server Error in '/' Application.
Schema specified is not valid. Errors:
(0,0) : error 0175: The specified store provider cannot be found in the configuration, or is not valid.
[MetadataException: Schema specified is not valid. Errors:
(0,0) : error 0175: The specified store provider cannot be found in the configuration, or is not valid.]
System.Data.Metadata.Edm.Loader.ThrowOnNonWarningErrors() +8566285
System.Data.Metadata.Edm.Loader.LoadItems(IEnumerable`1 xmlReaders, IEnumerable`1 sourceFilePaths) +181
System.Data.Metadata.Edm.StoreItemCollection.Init(IEnumerable`1 xmlReaders, IEnumerable`1 filePaths, Boolean throwOnError, DbProviderManifest& providerManifest, DbProviderFactory& providerFactory, String& providerManifestToken, Memoizer`2& cachedCTypeFunction) +211
System.Data.Metadata.Edm.StoreItemCollection..ctor(IEnumerable`1 xmlReaders) +295
System.Data.Entity.Migrations.Extensions.XDocumentExtensions.GetStoreItemCollection(XDocument model, DbProviderInfo& providerInfo) +180
System.Data.Entity.Migrations.Infrastructure.EdmModelDiffer.Diff(XDocument sourceModel, XDocument targetModel, String connectionString) +48
System.Data.Entity.Migrations.DbMigrator.IsModelOutOfDate(XDocument model, DbMigration lastMigration) +55
System.Data.Entity.Migrations.DbMigrator.Upgrade(IEnumerable`1 pendingMigrations, String targetMigrationId, String lastMigrationId) +269
System.Data.Entity.Migrations.DbMigrator.Update(String targetMigration) +456
System.Data.Entity.MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion`2.InitializeDatabase(TContext context) +64
Now, this has something to do with the migration attempt. So when I wrap the migration call in a try-catch block, I can use the database fine (because I migrated the live db locally).
#using EF = System.Data.Entity;
#using TCommon = Told.Web.Common.Logic;
#{
// Manually initialize
var initializer = new EF.MigrateDatabaseToLatestVersion<TCommon.CommonContext, TCommon.Migrations.Configuration>();
System.Data.Entity.Database.SetInitializer(initializer);
try
{
initializer.InitializeDatabase(new TCommon.CommonContext());
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
var db = new TCommon.CommonContext();
var test = db.AppUsers.FirstOrDefault();
// DB Maintenance
TCommon.AppUserLogic.CleanDatabase();
// Asp.Net
WebSecurity.InitializeDatabaseConnection("ToldDB", "UserProfile", "UserId", "Email", true);
// Common
TCommon.AppStart.Run();
}
What would be causing the migration diff-check to fail when I try to run it on my web server?
Edit:
Here is the web.config for the Entity Framework:
<configuration>
<configSections>
...
<section name="entityFramework" type="System.Data.Entity.Internal.ConfigFile.EntityFrameworkSection, EntityFramework, Version=4.4.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false"/>
</configSections>
...
<entityFramework>
<defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework"/>
</entityFramework>
<system.web>
<trace enabled="true" requestLimit="40" localOnly="false" pageOutput="true" />
<customErrors mode="Off"/>
<compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0">
<assemblies>
<add assembly="System.Data.Entity, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=B77A5C561934E089"/>
<add assembly="System.Web.Razor, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31BF3856AD364E35"/>
</assemblies>
</compilation>
</system.web>
...
<connectionStrings>
<add name="ToldDB" connectionString="..." providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
</connectionStrings>
</configuration>

Answer 1

I have now found the answer:
Make sure that you install these nuget-packages:
Microsoft.SqlServer.Compact and
EntityFramework.SqlServerCompact
Deploy again, and make sure that SQL Server CE is now in the \bin-folder (the folders x86 and amd64 with all the files).
And also these files must be in the bin-folder:
System.Data.SqlServerCe.dll
System.Data.SqlServerCe.Entity.dll
Make sure it is the right version. The ones that are installed with SQL Ce did not work, it must be the ones from the nuget package.
Also make sure the Web.config contains this:
<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>
And this:
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity name="System.Data" publicKeyToken="b77a5c561934e089" culture="neutral" />
<bindingRedirect oldVersion="0.0.0.0-4.0.0.0" newVersion="4.0.0.0" />
</dependentAssembly>
Note that you have to do this no matter if you use SqlCE on the production server. I am not sure you need the bin-files for the database itself, though.