Questions[iis-express](server)

I'm having a strange issue with Microsoft.Web.Adminstration 7.9.0.0 for IISExpress requiring run as administrator on Server 2012.

What I'm trying to do is add a Website to a custom ApplicationHost.config file using powershell.

I've tested my powershell script on windows 10 and windows 8.1 and both work with out admin, but I'm stuck with Server 2012.

I thought it could be something to do with a conflict between DLL versions IE 7.0.0.0 and 7.9.0.0.

I've added the DLL next to the file, but Add-Type keeps loading it from the GAC. Very annoying.

The only thing I can think of now is; there's some sort of GAC permission issue. Which doesn't make sense.

# Copied the DLL from C:\Windows\assembly\GAC_MSIL\Microsoft.Web.Administration\7.9.0.0__31bf3856ad364e35\Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll
$assemblyPath = "{Path to dll}\Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll"
Add-Type -LiteralPath $assemblyPath

# This shows Microsoft.Web.Administration loading from the GAC. 
[appdomain]::currentdomain.getassemblies()

$iisApplicationConfig = $(Resolve-Path "{Path to applicationhost.config}\applicationhost.config")
$serverManager = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.Web.Administration.ServerManager -ArgumentList @($iisApplicationConfig)
$site = $serverManager.Sites[$BuildDefaultProjectName]

Each time I start my ASP.Net MVC 3 app from Visual Studio 2010, IIS Express launches and IE spins waiting. The request fails with HTTP 503 Service Unavailable. I hit Refresh in IE, and the request succeeds. All subsequent requests succeed until I stop debugging. The next time I go to start debugging, the first request fails again.

Has anyone else experienced this?

In IISExpress\applicationhost.config I have:

<site name="ProjectName" id="6">
    <application path="/" applicationPool="Clr4IntegratedAppPool">
            <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="c:\users\chris\dropbox\code\2010\SolutionName\ProjectName" />
    </application>
    <bindings>
            <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:80:laptop" />
    </bindings>
</site>

I have this in my hosts file:

127.0.0.1    laptop

And my Project is set to start with IIS Express, with Project Url set to:

http://laptop

It's very strange that only the first request fails, perhaps as though Visual Studio isn't waiting long enough for IIS Express to start? Is there some way to make it wait?

Stopping debugging, making a change, and then starting again is one of the most common tasks I do so adding another step to get there is pretty annoying.

Does anybody know how to configure IIS Express to require client certificate for access? I'm trying to debug a problematic ASP.NET application which uses client certificates for authentication.

Is there an interface separate from the regular IIS manager?

When I search on IISExpress I find only a link to a folder full of logs related to IISExpress sites that had been spawned by Visual Studio.

i'm using IIS7 express and therefore need to unblock port 80 if I wish to hit the website locally and on the default http port. To do this, i use ..

netsh http add urlacl url=http://my.custom.locahost.domain.com:80/ user=mydomain\myusername

is it possible to say something like

netsh http add urlacl url=*:80/ user=*

so basically, anything going to port 80, by anyone, is allowed?