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I have ASP.NET MVC4 published as a file system. I need to host it in a fresh windows machine which does not have either VisualStudio and IIS installed in it;

Ways I analysed:

  • Using WebDev.WebServer, it can be done; Link

Question:

1) Does WebDev.WebServer gets installed along with a VisualStudio installation?

2) If not , please tell how can I install WebDev.WebServer as a standalone application in a windows machine,

Note:

  • Based on the answer in this discussion, I tried, but couldn't succeed. Reason is I couldn't find gacutil.exe in a fresh windows 8 machine which doesn't have VS / IIS installed in it.
Community
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Dinesh Kumar P
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1 Answers1

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WebDev.WebServer is kind of superseded by IIS Express now, which is documented, much more configurable, supports IIS extensions and other stuff. You can say it's pretty portable and does not require privileged account (for the most part).
Introduction blog post, IIS Express Readme

I'd suggest trying IIS Express instead of WebDev.WebServer.

Leonid
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  • Hi Leonid, As I have mentioned earlier, I shouldn't use either **IIS** / VisualStudio – Dinesh Kumar P Dec 12 '14 at 09:38
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    But IIS Express is not IIS. IIS Express is somewhat WebDev.WebServer extended, a standalone application. Is there any reason it can't replace WebDev.WebServer? – Leonid Dec 12 '14 at 09:44
  • Thanks; But I am new to ASP.Net; I installed IIS Express and able to view default website in *8080* port; I have developed my web app in Visual Studio 2012 and published it in Local File system; Now how can I make my IIS Express to know about my Published website? – Dinesh Kumar P Dec 12 '14 at 11:47
  • You can enable IIS in your local windows installation – Vsevolod Goloviznin Dec 12 '14 at 11:49
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    @DineshKumarP You can just exec `iisexpress.exe /path:"file system path" /port:8080` or setup `applicationHost.config` first, but it is a bit too much to go into details here. – Leonid Dec 12 '14 at 12:21
  • * Yes Done; But some assemblies are shown as missing; Then I copied them from 'packages' folder(Used as NuGet assemblies) and pasted them in bin folder; Only then it worked; * And 1 more query, Wont IISExpress get conflicted when default IIS is enabled and default IISExpress is installed in the system? – Dinesh Kumar P Dec 12 '14 at 12:47
  • It should be fine unless bindings overlap -- you can't use single ip-port-host combo twice, for instance. – Leonid Dec 12 '14 at 13:42
  • Can I allow other computers on the network to access my development machine in this manner? http://mydevmachine:8110/MySite – Dinesh Kumar P Dec 18 '14 at 04:20
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    Yes, steps are: 1. Make sure there is a binding that allows external requests; 2. Let them pass through firewall; 3. Check Windows url acl, if you run IIS Express with limited user account. These questions should help [1](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3313616/iis-express-enable-external-request), [2](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5433786/configure-iis-express-for-external-access-to-vs2010-project). – Leonid Dec 18 '14 at 05:00
  • Working perfectly Leonid :) If IISExpress is closed, then the port also gets closed.. Is there any way to run the port always like we do in normal IIS? My idea is to start the IISExpress.exe on system startup.. Do you have any better idea? – Dinesh Kumar P Dec 19 '14 at 05:12
  • How about scheduled task? Pros include running IIS Express with any account on system start (no logging in required) and automatic restarts, if you decide to recycle IIS Express at some point. – Leonid Dec 19 '14 at 06:17