Web.config error when adding new server to production SP 2013 Foundation farm

Question

First off, I've been scouring the posts here and elsewhere looking for a solution to this issue, and I appreciate any help. The closest I have found is here, but the answer was not followed-through. My apologies if this is a "obvious" question as I'm new to SP development and have recently inherited this farm from the previous admin. I am trying to add a new application server to the farm to facilitate search indexing as it has become too much to handle for the single server that currently comprises the farm.

The error message I am getting when adding the server (either through the wizard or powershell) is:

Connect-SPConfigurationDatabase : Failed to apply web.config modifications to file
'E:\Inetpub\SharePoint\VirtualDirectories\80\web.config'. Failed to apply a web.config
modification to file 'E:\Inetpub\SharePoint\VirtualDirectories\80\web.config'. The
specified node "configuration/system.webServer/staticContent" was not found in the
web.config file.

I have checked the file, and this node is present and populated. Also, I have verified permissions for this account on the SQL server in case that matters. Both servers are on the June 2016 CU, and I have also made sure the passphrase is correct by changing it a few times. This caused a need to rebuild the cache so that has been completed, also. I'm not sure where to go from here.

Answer 1

try this one

• go to the IIS Manager, Click on the Server and in the feautre pane select the configuration Editor
• On this page from drop down Exapand System.WebServer and Click on the StaticContent
• Now on in Action Tab(right hand side) Make Sure it say Lock Section if not then unlock it.
• Do this on all Servers and reset IIS.

This link is basically go through the above steps

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/33768.sharepoint-2016-central-admin-error-http-500-the-website-cannot-display-the-page.aspx