AppSettings in App or Web Config Using a Linked File

I’m trying to reference some common config settings between a Windows Service and an ASP.NET MVC website. I am doing this by using the file attribute on appSettings in either the App.config or Web.config (respectively). The file (named common.config) that is being referenced is a linked file in a separate project in the same solution. That common.config is set to Content with Copy Always in both projects.