SSL Verification files can't be read

Question

I have created an Asp.Net Razor site in Visual Studio 2017. Anyway I was given a series of steps by Winhost for getting free SSL certificate. I followed those steps using SSL for Free. I've used FileZilla to create the folder path and uploaded the verification files.

This is what's happening in the verification files that I uploaded to my site to get my SSL certificate. It says in Firefox that there's a syntax error. It can't read the first character. I am conjecturing something wrong is happening in my web.config file.

Here is the code of my web.config file.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
    <configuration>
      <system.webServer>
        <staticContent>
          <mimeMap fileExtension="." mimeType="text/xml" />
        </staticContent>
      </system.webServer>
      <system.web>
          <trust level="Full"/>
          <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.6.1"/>
          <httpRuntime targetFramework="4.6.1"/>
        </system.web>
        <runtime>
            <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">
                <dependentAssembly>
                    <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.Helpers" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
                    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0"/>
                </dependentAssembly>
                <dependentAssembly>
                    <assemblyIdentity name="System.Web.WebPages" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"/>
                    <bindingRedirect oldVersion="1.0.0.0-3.0.0.0" newVersion="3.0.0.0"/>
                </dependentAssembly>
            </assemblyBinding>
        </runtime>
    </configuration>

My objective is for these verification files which I downloaded from SSL for Free to be read on my domain on the server end. If they show a series of alhpa numerical characters then I can download a free security certificate that Winhost will then willingly install for me.

Here are the verification files I have on the server. I was hesitant to provide this at first due to security reasons but now I realize I can just regenerate different verification files later. Here they are. In case the links don't work it says in Firefox "XML Parsing Error: syntax error".

http://www.consolecommander.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/Eu366wCmdYJimRBDv3QnIxBA5kt512zYZmcL3FNfSrY

http://consolecommander.net/.well-known/acme-challenge/utptZ7KkbCkDNBuK0BD23nKYQ97bTMpzYiV-zFGKPXw

Answer 1

I decided to ignore the error I downloaded the certificate. It works now. Winhost installed it. I did have a BOM in my web.config file but not the verification files.