I am calling a controller method to log a user on. If I call the published app from the server in a regular browser, it fails. However it works locally and If i call the server from the browser spawned for debugging, it works. I want to know what is functionally different between these two browsers so I can narrow down the issue. Thanks!
There is no difference between the "debug browser" and the normal one.
The difference is when you run the application from Visual Studio, it hosts the application so the browser can read it. When you try to access the same URL without a running host application, it won't be available because there is nothing listening for incoming requests from the browser. Exactly how it is hosted depends on the settings of the Properties/Web tab of the project.