I have recently had some problems that I think might be helped by debugging my ASP.NET MVC application in IIS instead of with the default ASP.NET Development Server. However, when I try this the application can't access the database server (MS SQL Server 2008 Express) - it works fine on the Development Server though.
The error I get is
Cannot open database 'myDbName' requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user 'NT INSTANCE/NETWORK SERVICE'.
I assume it worked before because the development server accessed the database through my user account, and not via the network service like IIS.
I tried adding the user NETWORK SERVICE to the database, but it turns out I don't have the user privileges to do so - it doesn't matter that my Windows account that I log on to the server with is admin, or that I run the program in an administrator context. I just can't add another user to the DB.
How do I solve this problem?
You could change the user that IIS runs under: it's a setting in the properties for the ApplicationPool that your web site's running under.
We do this all the time as it gives us better control over user access - that NT INSTANCE/NETWORK SERVICE account's a bit too magic for my liking...