IISExpress Log File Location

Question

IISExpress writes log and configuration data to pre-determined location out of the box.

The directory is an "IISExpress" directory stored in a user's Documents directory.

In the directory is stored the following folders files underneath.

Config
Logs
TraceLogFiles

The location of my home directory is on a network share, determined by group policy

Currently we are encountering scenarios where visual studio locks up when stopping debugging Silverlight applications using IIS Express.

I was looking to change the location for the log & configuration data for IISExpress to see if this fixes the problem of visual studio locking up. Is it possible to change the default location of log & config files ?

The log I was looking for in Windows 10 was here: C:\WINDOWS\temp\PHP71ForIISExpress_errors.log — Rob Sedgwick, Feb 24 '18 at 21:55

score 157 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 08 '12 at 07:59

157

1 . By default applicationhost.config file defines following two log file locations. Here IIS_USER_HOME would be expanded as %userprofile%\documents\IISExpress\.

<siteDefaults>
<logFile logFormat="W3C" directory="%IIS_USER_HOME%\Logs" />
<traceFailedRequestsLogging directory="%IIS_USER_HOME%\TraceLogFiles" enabled="true" />
</siteDefaults>

You can update above directory paths to change the log file locations.

2 . If you are running IIS Express from command line, you can use '/config' switch to provide configuration file of your choice. Following link may help you http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/870/running-iis-express-from-the-command-line/

edited Feb 08 '12 at 07:59

balexandre

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answered Apr 27 '11 at 05:32

vikomall

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If you are running IIS Express from Visual Studio, the .config file is loaded from `$(solutionDir)\.vs\config\applicationhost.config` (referenced from this [answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/31940843/731081)) – sonyisda1 Feb 01 '18 at 16:32
12

VS2019 has changed this and defaults to disabled in the .vs\\config\applicationhost.config file. The path is now %AppData%\Microsoft\IISExpressLogs" for w3c logs and "%AppData%\Microsoft" for tracelogs. – Praveen Nayak Feb 26 '20 at 10:59
@PraveenNayak Where is `%AppData%\Microsoft\IISExpressLogs`? [this](https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/where-is-the-appdatamicrosoft-folder-located/3c3350b7-a855-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5) page indicates it's location can be found by keying that path (with it's environment variable) into Windows Explorer, but where I do that on my machine it says `c:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\IISExpressLogs` which doesn't exist. Thoughts? – RonC Jan 11 '23 at 16:20
3

@Ronc - the folder only gets created when the logs are created first time. To do that, enable IISExpress logging in the applicationhost.config (search for the string IISExpressLogs in the file), and debug in Visual Studio with IISExpress. – Praveen Nayak Jan 12 '23 at 04:36

George · Answer 2 · 2016-02-29T15:51:41.030

http://www.iis.net/configreference/system.applicationhost/sites/sitedefaults

<configuration>
    <system.applicationHost>
       <sites>
          <siteDefaults>
             <logFile 
                logFormat="W3C"
                directory="%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\LogFiles"
                enabled="true" 
                />
             <traceFailedRequestsLogging 
                enabled="true"
                directory="%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\FailedReqLogFiles"
                maxLogFiles="20" 
                />
             <limits connectionTimeout="00:01:00" />
             <ftpServer serverAutoStart="true" />
             <bindings>
                <binding 
                    protocol="http" 
                    bindingInformation="127.0.0.1:8080:" 
                    />
             </bindings>
          </siteDefaults>
       </sites>
    </system.applicationHost>
</configuration>

I find web.config documentation is a messy. It is therefore better to provide a complete parent history than a floating snippet with the expectation that the reader naturally knows where it goes.

Yes, +1 for providing the complete parent history. Otherwise even more related documentation has to be consulted. Thank you, George! — Manfred, May 02 '18 at 02:47

score 16 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 08 '17 at 17:45

16

By default it will be in:

C:\Users\ user_name \Documents\IISExpress\Logs\

answered Mar 08 '17 at 17:45

TravisO

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But what if the default was changed by someone else? How do I change it back please? – Fandango68 Dec 06 '17 at 01:58
5

@Fandango68 That's a new question, not a comment. – Apr 05 '18 at 11:13
1

That says where it is, not how to change it (per question) – Rowland Shaw Jun 06 '19 at 15:29

IISExpress Log File Location

3 Answers3

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