Development-time IIS support in Visual Studio for ASP.NET Core

By Sourabh Shirhatti

This article describes Visual Studio support for debugging ASP.NET Core apps running with IIS on Windows Server. This topic walks through enabling this scenario and setting up a project.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio for Windows
• ASP.NET and web development workload
• .NET Core cross-platform development workload
• X.509 security certificate (for HTTPS support)

Enable IIS

1. In Windows, navigate to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off (left side of the screen).
2. Select the Internet Information Services checkbox. Select OK.

The IIS installation may require a system restart.

Configure IIS

IIS must have a website configured with the following:

• Host name: Typically, the Default Web Site is used with a Host name of localhost. However, any valid IIS website with a unique host name works.
• Site Binding
  • For apps that require HTTPS, create a binding to port 443 with a certificate. Typically, the IIS Express Development Certificate is used, but any valid certificate works.
  • For apps that use HTTP, confirm the existence of a binding to port 80 or create a binding to port 80 for a new site.
  • Use a single binding for either HTTP or HTTPS. Binding to both HTTP and HTTPS ports simultaneously isn't supported.

Configure the project

HTTPS redirection

For a new project that requires HTTPS, select the checkbox to Configure for HTTPS in the Create a new ASP.NET Core Web Application window. Selecting the checkbox adds HTTPS Redirection and HSTS Middleware to the app when it's created.

For an existing project that requires HTTPS, use HTTPS Redirection and HSTS Middleware in Startup.Configure. For more information, see Enforce HTTPS in ASP.NET Core.

For a project that uses HTTP, HTTPS Redirection and HSTS Middleware aren't added to the app. No app configuration is required.

IIS launch profile

Create a new launch profile to add development-time IIS support:

1. Right-click the project in Solution Explorer. Select Properties. Open the Debug tab.

2. For Profile, select the New button. Name the profile "IIS" in the popup window. Select OK to create the profile.

3. For the Launch setting, select IIS from the list.

4. Select the checkbox for Launch browser and provide the endpoint URL.

   When the app requires HTTPS, use an HTTPS endpoint (https://). For HTTP, use an HTTP (http://) endpoint.

   Provide the same host name and port as the IIS configuration specified earlier uses, typically localhost.

   Provide the name of the app at the end of the URL.

   For example, https://localhost/WebApplication1 (HTTPS) or http://localhost/WebApplication1 (HTTP) are valid endpoint URLs.

5. In the Environment variables section, select the Add button. Provide an environment variable with a Name of ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT and a Value of Development.

6. In the Web Server Settings area, set the App URL to the same value used for the Launch browser endpoint URL.

7. For the Hosting Model setting in Visual Studio 2019 or later, select Default to use the hosting model used by the project. If the project sets the <AspNetCoreHostingModel> property in its project file, the value of the property (InProcess or OutOfProcess) is used. If the property isn't present, the default hosting model of the app is used, which is in-process. If the app requires an explicit hosting model setting different from the app's normal hosting model, set the Hosting Model to either In Process or Out Of Process as needed.

8. Save the profile.

When not using Visual Studio, manually add a launch profile to the launchSettings.json file in the Properties folder. The following example configures the profile to use the HTTPS protocol:

{
  "iisSettings": {
    "windowsAuthentication": false,
    "anonymousAuthentication": true,
    "iis": {
      "applicationUrl": "https://localhost/WebApplication1",
      "sslPort": 0
    }
  },
  "profiles": {
    "IIS": {
      "commandName": "IIS",
      "launchBrowser": true,
      "launchUrl": "https://localhost/WebApplication1",
      "environmentVariables": {
        "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development"
      }
    }
  }
}

Confirm that the applicationUrl and launchUrl endpoints match and use the same protocol as the IIS binding configuration, either HTTP or HTTPS.

Run the project

Run Visual Studio as an administrator:

• Confirm that the build configuration drop-down list is set to Debug.
• Set the Start Debugging button to the IIS profile and select the button to start the app.

Visual Studio may prompt a restart if not running as an administrator. If prompted, restart Visual Studio.

If an untrusted development certificate is used, the browser may require you to create an exception for the untrusted certificate.

Note

Debugging a Release build configuration with Just My Code and compiler optimizations results in a degraded experience. For example, break points aren't hit.

Additional resources

• Getting Started with the IIS Manager in IIS
• Enforce HTTPS in ASP.NET Core