Visual Studio SharePoint solution overwrites machineKey

Question

Exactly what it says on the tin - any time I make a change in a SharePoint 2010 solution which results in web.config being updated by visual studio, it makes changes to the element

<machineKey validationKey="{key}" ...

Prevents login. Must be the key I specify.

Help!

Answer 1

To prevent the machine key being overwritten, make the following change:

Navigate to http:///Lists/HealthRules/AllItems.aspx

1. Find the item “Web.config files are not identical on all machines in the farm.” And click it
2. Click Edit Item > disable the Enabled & Repair Automatically checkboxes > click Save

(You can confirm its this setting by using the "Run Now" "Feature")