'Sys' is undefined (ASP.NET - AJAX)

This is one of those annoying issues that can crop up if your web.config isn't entirely setup properly. Usually the way this seems to happen if you started your web site project as a normal ASP.NET web site, and then applied AJAX to it after the fact. This can also sneak in if you are having AJAX and referencing external ".js" files.

There are many "solutions" and "suggestions" on how to "fix" this problem that have been out for a few years now, but most of those are referring to when ASP.NET AJAX was known as "Atlas". On top of that, the posts in the forums mentioned one or two lines of code, but not a complete fix.

Here is a complete web.config that is configured for AJAX ASP.NET (2.0):

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <configSections>
    <sectionGroup name="system.web.extensions" type="System.Web.Configuration.SystemWebExtensionsSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35">
      <sectionGroup name="scripting" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35">
        <section name="scriptResourceHandler" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingScriptResourceHandlerSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/>
        <sectionGroup name="webServices" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingWebServicesSectionGroup, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35">
          <section name="jsonSerialization" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingJsonSerializationSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="Everywhere" />
          <section name="profileService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingProfileServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
          <section name="authenticationService" type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingAuthenticationServiceSection, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false" allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />
        </sectionGroup>
      </sectionGroup>
    </sectionGroup>
  </configSections>

  <system.web>
    <pages>
      <controls>
        <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI" assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
      </controls>
    </pages>
    <!--
          Set compilation debug="true" to insert debugging
          symbols into the compiled page. Because this
          affects performance, set this value to true only
          during development.
    -->
    <compilation debug="false">
      <assemblies>
        <add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
      </assemblies>
    </compilation>

    <httpHandlers>
      <remove verb="*" path="*.asmx"/>
      <add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
      <add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
      <add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" validate="false"/>
    </httpHandlers>

    <httpModules>
      <add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
    </httpModules>
  </system.web>

  <system.web.extensions>
    <scripting>
      <webServices>
      <!-- Uncomment this line to customize maxJsonLength and add a custom converter -->
      <!--
      <jsonSerialization maxJsonLength="500">
        <converters>
          <add name="ConvertMe" type="Acme.SubAcme.ConvertMeTypeConverter"/>
        </converters>
      </jsonSerialization>
      -->
      <!-- Uncomment this line to enable the authentication service. Include requireSSL="true" if appropriate. -->
      <!--
        <authenticationService enabled="true" requireSSL = "true|false"/>
      -->

      <!-- Uncomment these lines to enable the profile service. To allow profile properties to be retrieved
           and modified in ASP.NET AJAX applications, you need to add each property name to the readAccessProperties and
           writeAccessProperties attributes. -->
      <!--
      <profileService enabled="true"
                      readAccessProperties="propertyname1,propertyname2"
                      writeAccessProperties="propertyname1,propertyname2" />
      -->
      </webServices>
      <!--
      <scriptResourceHandler enableCompression="true" enableCaching="true" />
      -->
    </scripting>
  </system.web.extensions>

  <system.webServer>
    <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false"/>
    <modules>
      <add name="ScriptModule" preCondition="integratedMode" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
    </modules>
    <handlers>
      <remove name="WebServiceHandlerFactory-Integrated" />
      <add name="ScriptHandlerFactory" verb="*" path="*.asmx" preCondition="integratedMode"
           type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
      <add name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices" verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" preCondition="integratedMode"
           type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>
      <add name="ScriptResource" preCondition="integratedMode" verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" />
    </handlers>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

If you have external ".js" files or "inline code" that you are using concurrently with your AJAX ASP.NET page, for good measure, you will want to add this code to the end of your ".js" file, or before the "</script>" tag if it's inline JavaScript code.

if (typeof(Sys) !== 'undefined') Sys.Application.notifyScriptLoaded();

Hope that helps. :)