Emmanuel's Blog

How to fix the error: “The communication object, System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel, cannot be used for communication because it is in the Faulted state” when running a Windows Azure project in the local development fabric/emulator

If you click on “View Detail…” you’ll see this exception -

Here’s the full exception -

System.ServiceModel.CommunicationObjectFaultedException was unhandled
  Message=The communication object, System.ServiceModel.Channels.ServiceChannel, cannot be used for communication because it is in the Faulted state.
  Source=mscorlib
  StackTrace:
    Server stack trace:
       at System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout)
    Exception rethrown at [0]:
       at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.HandleReturnMessage(IMessage reqMsg, IMessage retMsg)
       at System.Runtime.Remoting.Proxies.RealProxy.PrivateInvoke(MessageData& msgData, Int32 type)
       at System.ServiceModel.ICommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout)
       at System.ServiceModel.ClientBase`1.System.ServiceModel.ICommunicationObject.Close(TimeSpan timeout)
       at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.Hosts.WaIISHost.Program.Main(String[] args)
  InnerException

There seems to be a bug in the Windows Azure SDK 1.3 that causes this exception to occur if your Web.Config file is read-only.  Since many of us use TFS or some other source control system, there’s a high chance your Web.Config is read-only and you will get this error when you run your azure project in the local emulator.

The fix: simply make your Web.Config not read-only.  You can manually change the read-only attribute in windows explorer, but when you get the latest from source control, it will be marked as read-only again.

So a better way is to create a post-build event that marks the Web.Config as not read-only right after compilation, but before your project starts running in the local emulator.

Right-click on your ASP.NET site or WCF web service project and choose Properties > Build Events -

In the ‘Post-build event command line’, enter -

attrib -r "$(ProjectDir)Web.Config"

That’s it!  Now you can run your windows azure project in the 1.3 emulator and the stupid exception will no longer occur.

Here’s the original thread in the Windows Azure forums, where I found this solution -

Error deploying locally 29 November 2010 Azure Tools
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsazuretroubleshooting/thread/26165c71-f941-4d84-9ef3-649d7bab0066

Good times!