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visual-studio-2010ssl.net-4.0httpsiis-express

Why can't Visual Studio 2010 deploy and start IIS express on local machine?

Our ASP.NET C# web application is used in the following environment

  • .NET Framework 4

  • Silverlight 4

  • IIS 7

  • Windows 2008

  • Visual Studio 2010

.NET IDE

  • C#

  • HTTPS ( SSL )

In order to keep development closely aligned with our Production environment and qa environment.

I installed IIS express on my local development desktop.

Scott Hanselman has documented a good step-by-step guide as to how we should setup a fake UnSigned Certificate for the IIS express on my local development desktop so that a developer can deploy development code in an HTTPS ( SSL ) development environment.

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/WorkingWithSSLAtDevelopmentTimeIsEasierWithIISExpress.aspx

I created a fake UnSigned Certificate for the IIS express on my local development desktop so that I can deploy development code in an HTTPS ( SSL ) development environment.

I tried to configure Visual Studio 2010 by selecting the "Use Local IIS Web server" radio button in the Properties tab page. I specified a project url of "https://localhost/" (Note: I used httpS in the project url mentioned above as in for SSL )

I clicked on the "Create Virtual Directory".

I navigated to the C:\Users{YOU}\Documents\IISExpress\config\applicationhost.config file.

I opened up the C:\Users{YOU}\Documents\IISExpress\config\applicationhost.config in adminstrator-mode notepad, but it failed to show any entry for my website.

I manually entered a site configuration into the applicationhost.config file:

<site name="PivotServer(12)" id="14">
    <application path="/" applicationPool="Clr4IntegratedAppPool">
        <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="C:\Program Files\IIS Express\WebSite1\Pivot_JIT_Sample2\PivotJitServer\PivotServer" />
        </application>
            <bindings>
                <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:45621:localhost" />
                <binding protocol="https" bindingInformation="*:443:localhost" />
            </bindings>
        </site>

I need to figure out a way to debug using IIS express working in combination with  Visual Studio 2010.

I tried to run the application from Visual Studio 2010 by pressing "F5" but I get a popup window error box that states:

"A project with an Output Type of Class Library cannot be started directly. In order to debug this project, add an executable project to this solution which references the library project. Set the executable project as the startup project."

Could someone please make suggestions?

Solution

  • As noted in this other SO post, you need to ensure you have correctly setup the Startup project.

    Then when you launch the project, make sure the correct port is showing, as in: https://localhost:443/.