👀 Views: 0 💬 Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-06-14

dotnet configuration fileio appsettings csharp

I'm maintaining legacy code that I'm experiencing a `FileNotFoundException` when my .NET Core 6 application attempts to read a configuration file that I know exists in the specified directory. My project structure is as follows: ``` /MyProject ├── appsettings.json └── bin └── Debug └── net6.0 ``` In my `Program.cs`, I'm trying to access the `appsettings.json` file like this: ```csharp var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args); // Attempting to load appsettings.json from the current directory builder.Configuration.AddJsonFile("appsettings.json"); var app = builder.Build(); ``` However, when I run the application, I get the following behavior: ``` System.IO.FileNotFoundException: Could not find file 'C:\Path\To\MyProject\appsettings.json'. ``` I double-checked that the `appsettings.json` file is present in the project directory, and I've also confirmed that it is set to "Copy if newer" in the file properties. I've also tried using an absolute path instead, like this: ```csharp builder.Configuration.AddJsonFile("C:\Path\To\MyProject\appsettings.json"); ``` This also throws the same `FileNotFoundException`. I suspect it might be related to the way the working directory is set when running the app, but I'm not sure how to confirm that. Has anyone encountered a similar scenario or can someone suggest a way to resolve this? Are there any best practices for managing configuration files in .NET Core applications that I might be overlooking? This is part of a larger application I'm building. Am I missing something obvious? Thanks for taking the time to read this!