11

I am running IIS 7.5 on Windows Server 2008 R2 x64. I added a new app pool via the iis manager and wanted to set the autostart and startmode options in the applicationHost.config file. However, the new app pool is not appearing in either of the applicationHost config files (%WINDIR%\System32\inetsrv\Config and %WINDIR%\SysWOW64\inetsrv\config). The app pool has an application added to it (the application is still listed under the old app pool in the config files, though it is correct in the iis management snap-in). I have run iisreset several times and completely restarted the server.

Does anyone know if these config files are cached somewhere else that may not be refreshing or anything else that may cause this behavior?

Kiquenet
  • 14,494
  • 35
  • 148
  • 243
JMorgan
  • 805
  • 4
  • 11
  • 24

2 Answers2

13

I'm not sure why this would occur, but I accessed the applicationHost.config from another machine via the admin share and the information was there and editable.

JMorgan
  • 805
  • 4
  • 11
  • 24
  • 13
    Annoyingly, it may have been Windows showing you a "virtual" copy of that file, which is presented to non-administrators. If you opened that file with Administrator privileges (turn off UAC, or run Notepad as Administrator first) then you'd find the right file. Annoying huh? – Andrew Jan 01 '12 at 11:16
10

I opened the file using notepad++ with "Run as Administrator". I spent nearly an hour trying to figure out what was going on. I just couldn't see the binding. Turns out, the only way to edit applicationHost.config is to start Notepad (not notepad++) using "Run as Administrator" and open the file. Only then you will see the actual content of the file.

Oxon
  • 4,901
  • 8
  • 40
  • 54
  • 1
    Thanks for figuring that out, Oxon! This is really weird. I mean, it is supposed to be a text file, right? @Microsoft: WTF is going on there!? – Igor Lankin Feb 06 '15 at 13:31
  • 1
    @IgorLankin See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8635884/iis7-settings-file-locations/23967428#23967428 on why this is happening – yoel halb May 25 '16 at 15:26