Error in web.config of sharepoint central admin in SP 2013 on-prem

Question

am getting the below error after running the config wizard of my sp 2013 server farm

Log Name: Application Source: SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard Date: 12/9/2016 3:11:21 PM Event ID: 104 Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: Classic User: N/A Computer: server1 Description: Failed to provision the SharePoint Central Administration Web Application. An exception of type System.Xml.XmlException was thrown. Additional exception information: '.', hexadecimal value 0x00, is an invalid character. Line 2, position 1. System.Xml.XmlException: '.', hexadecimal value 0x00, is an invalid character. Line 2, position 1. at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(String res, String[] args) at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseRootLevelWhitespace() at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent() at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadDocSequence(XmlDocument parentDoc) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(String filename) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.ApplyZoneSettingsToWebConfig(Uri responseUri, SPIisSettings settings) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.Provision() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAdministrationWebApplication.Provision() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebServiceInstance.Provision() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.CentralAdministrationSiteTask.ProvisionAdminVs() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.CentralAdministrationSiteTask.Run() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask() Event Xml: 104 2 0 0x80000000000000 11225 Application srvr1 Failed to provision the SharePoint Central Administration Web Application. An exception of type System.Xml.XmlException was thrown. Additional exception information: '.', hexadecimal value 0x00, is an invalid character. Line 2, position 1. System.Xml.XmlException: '.', hexadecimal value 0x00, is an invalid character. Line 2, position 1. at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(String res, String[] args) at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseRootLevelWhitespace() at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseDocumentContent() at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadDocSequence(XmlDocument parentDoc) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader) at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(String filename) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.ApplyZoneSettingsToWebConfig(Uri responseUri, SPIisSettings settings) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.Provision() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAdministrationWebApplication.Provision() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebServiceInstance.Provision() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.CentralAdministrationSiteTask.ProvisionAdminVs() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.CentralAdministrationSiteTask.Run() at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()

Answer 1

Fastest way to solve this is to create a new CA on an app server. Simply run

New-SPCentralAdministration -Port 2016

Answer 2

I found a website that might give you the answer, the link is below. This website suggests that SharePoint is on the wrong OS version. I am currious, is this a fresh install or a long running production SharePoint server? If is is a new SP server, consider starting over by formatting the drive.

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/f35f7bb1-abdc-46f4-8fb4-0bd3870d8b5c/failed-to-provision-the-sharepoint-central-administration-web-application-systemxmlxmlexception?forum=sharepointgeneralprevious

Answer 3

Never EVER update the CA web Config manually this always happens, just re run your product config and everything will be fine!