Update to cloud service extended support fails

I'm trying to update a cloud service extended support instance. I've uploaded the files to a storage account and followed the normal process I'm familiar with, I'm doing that through the Azure management portal. My previous deployment was almost 1 year ago and was successful.

I'm seeing the following error in the portal after a few moments:

"{"status":"Failed","error":{"code":"ResourceOperationFailure","message":"The resource operation completed with terminal provisioning state 'Failed'.","details":[{"code":"RoleInstanceStartupTimeoutError","message":"One or more role instances of the cloud service could not get started in the stipulated time. These role instances might be taking time to start or might be recycling. To debug common issues please refer to https://aka.ms/role-startup-failure.To get the current state and details of the role instances, please use https://aka.ms/cses-ps-getroleinstanceview.\r\nMore Details: Role instance ********WebRole_IN_0 has state RoleStateStarting. Role Instance details: Recovering role... Unhandled Exception: The type initializer for 'Microsoft.Web.Administration.ConfigurationManager' threw an exception.\n at Microsoft.Web.Administration.ConfigurationManager..ctor(ServerManager owner, String applicationHostConfigurationPath)\n at **WebRole.WebRole.OnStart() in C:\\Users\\\\Source\\Workspaces\\******Scrum\\CloudServices\\Main\\******CloudService\\********WebRole\\WebRole.cs:line 50\n at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.RoleEnvironment.InitializeRoleInternal(RoleType roleTypeEnum)\n at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.Implementation.Loader.RoleRuntimeBridge.<InitializeRole>b__0()\n at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.RunInternal(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)\n at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state, Boolean preserveSyncCtx)\n at System.Threading.ExecutionContext.Run(ExecutionContext executionContext, ContextCallback callback, Object state)\n at System.Threading.ThreadHelper.ThreadStart()\n\nInner Exception: Value cannot be null.\nParameter name: type\n at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)\n at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type)\n at Microsoft.Web.Administration.ConfigurationManager..cctor()\n\n' [2024-12-04T12:24:49.000Z] Last exit time: [2024/12/04, 12:25:05.961]. Last exit code: 0.\r\n"}]}}",

What pops out to me is the "Value cannot be null" exception but I am not sure what is missing. Have something changed in recent months in the configuration?Is there a new configuration item required and missing?