title: Encrypting config files for deployment
body: <p>I have a windows service that reads from app.config.</p>
  
  <p>I want some settings to be encrypted, however, I don't want to use the ProtectedConfigurationProvider classes provided in .NET because they encrypt files based on the machine they are running on using DPAPI.</p>
  
  <p>What I wanted was a way for our administrator to deploy the config file already encrypted to many machines and have each machine decrypt them when needed.</p>
  
  <p>I don't want to hardcode a password into the assembly either so I'm not sure how I can go about this.</p>