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I was thinking that the IIS manager was simply a graphical frontend for the textual configuration files, which in turn represent the whole configuration for IIS in a hierarchical fashion.

So when I edit a setting while being on the app level, I would have expected that either

  • the setting is stored in the app's web.config or
  • the respective dialog makes in clear that the setting is inherited.

I noticed that the setting for authentication seems to do neither:

enter image description here

When I change those settings, the web.config isn't touched. However, they are still remembered. So where are they stored?

John
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You are correct, all IIS settings are stored in XML text files, but for each setting there are at least two possible files in which the setting is stored.

Which one is used by the GUI tools depends on the Feature Delegation for that setting. If Delegation has Read/Write they setting is usually stored in the local web.config file. If it is Read Only, it is stored in ApplicationHost.config (in %systemroot%\System32\inetsrv\config) or for asp.net settings in (%systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\Config).

The GUI should correctly show you which file is used (in the status line). If you use the Configuration Editor you may be able to choose which file to use (at the top right of the window).

If you have a web.config in a folder or for an Application, settings may also be stored in the parent web.config, either another folder or the site.

If you don't see changes in the local web.config, check the parent web.configs or the machine-wide configuration files.

Peter Hahndorf
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  • Well, well, the settings are indeed saved in the `applicationhost.config`. But that's nowhere hinted at in the UI. In fact, as can be seen in the screenshot, the status bar reads "web.config". Is this an oversight? – John Jul 20 '16 at 11:06
  • In the status line it should say `'localhost' applicationHost.config, ` and it does so on all my machines. Note that this information can vary for different settings within the same configuration panel. – Peter Hahndorf Jul 20 '16 at 11:09