Which connection string WSAT uses

Question

1. I create a new ASP.NET MVC project with internet template.
2. I build the solution.
3. I open ASP.NET Web Site Administration Tool (WSAT).
4. I click the security tab

I get this error:

"Unable to connect to SQL Server database."

I am using Visual Studio 2012 and SQLServer Express 2012.
I don't have IIS installed (other then what ships with Visual Studio).
The Connection String from the new project:

<add name="DefaultConnection" connectionString="Data Source=(LocalDb)\v11.0;Initial Catalog=aspnet-MvcApplication2-20130804051506;Integrated Security=SSPI;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|\aspnet-MvcApplication2-20130804051506.mdf" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />

It is worth mentioning that I did not change anything in the web.config after its initial creation and that MVC project seems to be working properly e.g. I am able to register and login and then see that data in the (LocalDb)\v11.0.

I read on other posts that the connection string from machine.config is sometimes used instead of the one from web.config.
I have a two machine.config files, one under C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\config\v4.0.30319 and the other under C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\CONFIG\v2.0.50727
When is a machine.config's connection string is used instead of my web.config's connection string? I want to use the (LocalDb)\v11.0 data source, why does WSAT unable to connect to it?

Answer 1

From http://forums.asp.net/t/1483981.aspx/1 :

by default, the membership / role provider uses the "localSQLServer" connection string which is set to point to a local SQL Express database from the root web.config. In most cases, the server do not have SQL express installed and you will get this error.

By clearing the connection strings should reveal those errors.