Why are my MVC 4 Authorize checks throwing an exception? - asp.net-mvc

Question

I am using Visual Studio 2012 with SQL Server Express 2012. I created an MVC 4 Web Application using the "Internet Application" template.
I wanted to use an existing database on my instance of SQL Server 2012 Express (as opposed to the template's MDF). I have modified my web.config to point to my local SQL express instance instead and have deleted the template-generated MDF. My Web.Config has:
<add name="DefaultConnection"
connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=Administration;Integrated Security=SSPI;" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
The stock membership code has a call to initialize the DB:
WebSecurity.InitializeDatabaseConnection("DefaultConnection", "UserProfile", "UserId", "UserName", autoCreateTables: true);
Once the application fires up, the tables get created in the Administration database as I would expect. I can create users and they are populated in Administration. I can populate the roles table and add roles to a user's profile through code and verify that it took. e.g.:
Roles.GetRolesForUser("kristian"); // = string[] { "Administrator" }
But if I try and use role-based authorization like:
[Authorize(Roles = "Administrator")]
I get the following exception:
Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instance. The connection will be closed.
It gives a long nasty stack trace that makes me think it's still trying to create an MDF file:
[SqlException (0x80131904): Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to a failure in starting the process for the user instance. The connection will be closed.]
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action1 wrapCloseInAction) +5295167
System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean callerHasConnectionLock, Boolean asyncClose) +242
System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.TryRun(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean& dataReady) +1682
System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Run(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj) +69
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.CompleteLogin(Boolean enlistOK) +30
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.AttemptOneLogin(ServerInfo serverInfo, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean ignoreSniOpenTimeout, TimeoutTimer timeout, Boolean withFailover) +317
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.LoginNoFailover(ServerInfo serverInfo, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, SqlCredential credential, TimeoutTimer timeout) +889
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.OpenLoginEnlist(TimeoutTimer timeout, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, SqlCredential credential, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance) +307
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds..ctor(DbConnectionPoolIdentity identity, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, SqlCredential credential, Object providerInfo, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance, SqlConnectionString userConnectionOptions) +434
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, DbConnectionPoolKey poolKey, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +5309659
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreateNonPooledConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionPoolGroup poolGroup, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +38
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, TaskCompletionSource1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection) +5311874
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.TryOpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +143
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.TryOpen(TaskCompletionSource1 retry) +83
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open() +96
System.Web.Management.SqlServices.GetSqlConnection(String server, String user, String password, Boolean trusted, String connectionString) +76
[HttpException (0x80004005): Unable to connect to SQL Server database.]
System.Web.Management.SqlServices.GetSqlConnection(String server, String user, String password, Boolean trusted, String connectionString) +131
System.Web.Management.SqlServices.SetupApplicationServices(String server, String user, String password, Boolean trusted, String connectionString, String database, String dbFileName, SqlFeatures features, Boolean install) +89
System.Web.Management.SqlServices.Install(String database, String dbFileName, String connectionString) +27
System.Web.DataAccess.SqlConnectionHelper.CreateMdfFile(String fullFileName, String dataDir, String connectionString) +386
The line at the bottom of this bundle of joy makes me think it's related to the now-deleted MDF ('System.Web.DataAccess.SqlConnectionHelper.CreateMdfFile'). Am I correct in this? Or is the authorization implemented by the template just incomplete?
If someone else has dealt with this or knows why my attribute usage is failing I would greatly appreciate the help.

Answer 1

I had this same problem. It appears to be related to not initializing SimpleMembership properly. Try making sure that [InitializeSimpleMembership] is used or directly call Database.SetInitializer<UsersContext>(null);