The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect error in IISLogs

We have an occasional support question a person receives an error when trying to execute IISLogs.

Problem:
The problem is a space “ ” or “!” stored within the configuration item normally causes the issue.

<add key=”MonitoredEntireDirectories” value=”&nbsp;” />

or

<add key=”MonitoredEntireDirectories” value=”!” />

Solution:

Remove the “&nbsp;” or “&#x0!” value using a text editor such as Notepad.

Here are screenshots to showing the error and where to look.