If the XPath parameter passed to the SelectSingleNode() method does not include a prefix, it is assumed that the namespace URI is the empty namespace. If your XML includes a default namespace (and that is your actual case), you must add a prefix and namespace URI to the XmlNamespaceManager; otherwise, you do not get your node selected ;) So, replace your line: XmlNode node = doc.SelectSingleNode("/configuration/appSettings"); with the following piece of code: XmlNamespaceManager nsmgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(doc.NameTable); nsmgr.AddNamespace"pfx", "http://schemas.microsoft.com/.NetConfiguration/v2.0"); XmlNode node = doc.SelectSingleNode("//pfx:appSettings", nsmgr);
SkyWalker