link to login does not work, in ASP.NET Core Identity UI

Question

I have configured my asp.net core 2.2 application to scaffold identity(so I can customise its appearance) based on this Scaffold Identity in ASP.NET Core projects=>Create full identity UI source link. The http://localhost:12345/identity/account/login url works when I request it directly in the browser, but it does not work when i incude it as a link on the home page. What am I doing wrong?

Startup.cs:

public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
        {
            services.Configure<CookiePolicyOptions>(options =>
            {
                // This lambda determines whether user consent for non-essential cookies is needed for a given request.
                options.CheckConsentNeeded = context => true;
                options.MinimumSameSitePolicy = SameSiteMode.None;
            });
            services.AddDbContext<ApplicationDbContext>(options =>
                options.UseSqlServer(Configuration.GetConnectionString("DefaultConnection")));
            services.AddIdentity<IdentityUser, IdentityRole>()
                //.AddDefaultUI(UIFramework.Bootstrap4)
                .AddEntityFrameworkStores<ApplicationDbContext>();
            services.AddMvc().SetCompatibilityVersion(CompatibilityVersion.Version_2_2).
                AddRazorPagesOptions(options =>
            {
                options.AllowAreas = true;
                options.Conventions.AuthorizeAreaFolder("Identity", "/Account/Manage");
                options.Conventions.AuthorizeAreaPage("Identity", "/Account/Logout");
            });
            services.ConfigureApplicationCookie(options =>
            {
                options.LoginPath = $"/Identity/Account/Login";
                options.LogoutPath = $"/Identity/Account/Logout";
                options.AccessDeniedPath = $"/Identity/Account/AccessDenied";
            });
            services.AddSingleton<IEmailSender, EmailSender>();
        }
public void Configure(IApplicationBuilder app, IHostingEnvironment env)
        {
            if (env.IsDevelopment())
            {
                app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();
                app.UseDatabaseErrorPage();
            }
            else
            {
                app.UseExceptionHandler("/Error");
                app.UseHsts();
            }
            app.UseStatusCodePagesWithReExecute("/Error", "?code={0}");
            app.UseHttpsRedirection();
            app.UseStaticFiles();
            app.UseCookiePolicy();
            app.UseAuthentication();
            app.UseMvc();
        }

_Layout.cshtml: link to login in the home page's layout.

<a asp-page="/identity/account/login" 
class="btn btn-sm btn-white btn-icon rounded-pill d-none d-lg-inline-flex"
data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="left">
<span class="btn-inner--icon"><i class="fas fa-sign-in"></i></span>
<span class="btn-inner--text">Login</span>
</a>

Answer 1

There're two ways to do that.

Approach 1: using the href

<a href="/identity/account/login" 
    class="btn btn-sm btn-white btn-icon rounded-pill d-none d-lg-inline-flex"
    data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="left">
    <span class="btn-inner--icon"><i class="fas fa-sign-in"></i></span>
    <span class="btn-inner--text">Login</span>
</a>

Approach 2:

<a asp-area="Identity"  asp-page="/Account/Login" 
    class="btn btn-sm btn-white btn-icon rounded-pill d-none d-lg-inline-flex"
    data-toggle="tooltip" data-placement="left">
    <span class="btn-inner--icon"><i class="fas fa-sign-in"></i></span>
    <span class="btn-inner--text">Login</span>
</a>