63

The Microsoft.Web.Administration assembly is found in C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv on my machine. I believe it is installed as part of IIS. The assembly is also in the GAC.

How should I reference this assembly from my project, given that I want to commit the project to SVN for others to checkout. Microsoft.Web.Administration does not appear in the Visual Studio 'Add References' list. I can add a reference to C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\Microsoft.Web.Administration, but this seems like a bad idea as other developers might have it installed on a different path or drive.

Or I could copy it into the project folder, but then I have to commit the binary to SVN.

user247702
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Weyland Yutani
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    Add dll to svn that others could check out it and use in project. Also you should think about to add it to setup. – Renatas M. Aug 07 '13 at 13:08
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    I'd just stick with the GAC reference. – tnw Aug 07 '13 at 13:08
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    @tnw then you need to turn on IIS feature. – Renatas M. Aug 07 '13 at 13:09
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    @Reniuz There are potential legal issues there. All developers should have the required setup, so that the relevant DLLs are in the GAC (i.e. their development machines are configured for development of their thing!) When it comes to clients, a different, generally more legal approach, would be to bootstrap the thing that configures the machine with the required DLLs, instead of "kidnapping" the DLLs. – Grant Thomas Aug 07 '13 at 13:10
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    @GrantThomas what you saying is true. But install IIS because of dll... need to find out more about this thing. Recently i had to use this dll just because I could add site binding programatically for webservice with certificate to work. I would be gratefull for any references about "kidnapping" dlls. :) – Renatas M. Aug 07 '13 at 13:19
  • @Reniuz Are you sure? I have that DLL sitting in my GAC on my standard Windows 8 computer. – tnw Aug 07 '13 at 13:53
  • Well I'am not sure. I couldn't find it in add reference window so just grabbed from inetsvr folder. I'll check that on other pc without IIS enabled. Thanks for the hint. – Renatas M. Aug 07 '13 at 14:19
  • It's not just a legal issue. I spend half a day today troubleshooting issues related to a GAC reference. If you are reading this, please don't add reference to Microsoft.Web.Administration via GAC. The issue was a list of non-existent application pools, nothing to do with my setup. After correcting the reference to reference from inetsrv, it started working fine. – Victor Zakharov Jun 03 '14 at 20:21
  • The "bad" idea is the only correct way, https://blog.lextudio.com/2015/05/whats-microsoft-web-administration-and-the-horrible-facts-you-should-know/ – Lex Li May 30 '15 at 03:54

11 Answers11

48

The following steps are working for me:

  1. Go to C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv and check if the file Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll exists. If you are missing the Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll in C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv, enable IIS Management Console in your Windows Features:

Adding the management service to windows features

  1. In your Visual Studio project, add the reference to the Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll: enter image description here
  2. Now your .proj-file has the following the entry: <HintPath>C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll</HintPath>. You could adapt this path to e.g. <HintPath>%windir%\System32\inetsrv\Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll</HintPath> to make it more robust.

When you move the app to a different system, the app also references to the Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll on the target system. Because the Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll could be different between the windows systems it is not recommended to deliver a copy of this assembly file by the app. A copy could be incompatible with the IIS on the target system.

It is also not recommended to reference a copy of the assembly on the same system, because perhaps the Microsoft.Web.Administrator.dll and the IIS will change due an Windows Update! Then your referenced copy of Microsoft.Web.Administrator.dll is incompatible with the updated IIS.

When the Microsoft.Web.Administrator.dll is missing on the target system, then activate the Management Console as descibed in step 1 above. Alternatively you can use the cmd (open as Administrator) and activate the Windows Feature Management Console by DISM.exe via the following command: 

C:\Windows\System32\Dism.exe /enable-feature /online /featurename:IIS-ManagementConsole

This command could be useful when you want to distribute your app via an setup.

Simon
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  • This is not the recommended approach, so once you move to another Windows machine with a different IIS version, there can be an assembly mismatch. You should simply leave the hint path in the project file, so that Visual Studio or MSBuild resolves the assembly from IIS installation folder. – Lex Li Nov 19 '18 at 22:22
  • @Lex Li: I totally agree. I have adapted my answer. Thank you for your contribution. – Simon Nov 20 '18 at 10:05
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    `%windir%` is incorrect syntax for `HintPath`. Use `$(windir)` instead. – Mike Keskinov May 19 '22 at 16:45
13

You may modify your project file manually. Adding/Changing the reference like below will find the assembly in GAC regardless of its location:

<Reference Include="Microsoft.Web.Administration, Version=7.9.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <SpecificVersion>False</SpecificVersion>
</Reference>

Of course, if the feature "IIS management console" is installed only. You may simply leave a hint in code:

#warning Windows feature "IIS management console" must be installed locally
deve loper
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    While this may not be the answer for everyone, this was exactly what I needed. People need to be aware that there are two versions of this assembly, one for IIS and one for IIS Express. The one available through NuGet is for IIS, so if you actually want the IIS Express version then that won't work. If you do, adding it through NuGet is probably the more advisable avenue. – Derek Greer Jun 09 '14 at 16:36
  • @DerekGreer, NuGet packages are also a wrong approach, https://blog.lextudio.com/2015/05/whats-microsoft-web-administration-and-the-horrible-facts-you-should-know/ – Lex Li May 30 '15 at 03:51
  • @LexLi Looks like MS now owns the MWA NuGet package, so it might not be as wrong anymore. – TLS Oct 31 '16 at 16:42
  • @TLS they made the change for the new REST API based on .NET Core. Not a sign for you to use the NuGet package still. – Lex Li Oct 31 '16 at 23:45
7
  1. If you project file, change the hint path to <HintPath>$(windir)\System32\inetsrv\Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll</HintPath>.
  2. Check in. Then anyone who checks out should see the proper reference if IIS is installed. If IIS is not installed, there will be a reference error they need to resolve.

To resolve, they either install IIS via Programs in Control Panel or via command line as @DzmitryLahoda pointed out.

Again, any trick pointing you to the NuGet packages is improper,

https://halfblood.pro/whats-microsoft-web-administration-and-the-horrible-facts-you-should-know-b82f2c974da6

Lex Li
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    This is correct. If you use the NuGet package then you are redistributing the assembly without permission from Microsoft (assuming you package it up into your deployment). –  Jun 21 '15 at 23:46
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    @Bringer128 Looks like MS now owns the MWA NuGet package, so it might not be as wrong anymore. – TLS Oct 31 '16 at 16:42
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    @TLS Microsoft hosts a .NET Core compatible package there for its IIS 10 REST API, but that is still not targeting other scenarios. – Lex Li Nov 19 '18 at 22:23
  • `%windir%` is incorrect syntax for `HintPath`. Use `$(windir)` instead. – Mike Keskinov May 19 '22 at 16:45
6

Search for it in NuGet and install it. It will get installed in packages folder, change the location according to your project structure and re-add the references to reflect new path. Generally I create a lib folder and place all the external libraries.

Folder structure of the project can be

lib -> external libraries
src - > code
tools -> tools such as nant, etc

Microsoft.Web.Administration is used to manage IIS programmatically and it is not available from add reference window. By adding reference from C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv would create reference issues. So, better to have it in lib folder internal to the project and check it in SVN.

Sunny
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  • +1 I'm glad that assembly was added to NuGet... now if only they would add "Microsoft.Web.Management" also (ah heck why not all of the obscure dlls?) – dyslexicanaboko Jan 13 '14 at 19:30
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    @dyslexicanaboko, Packaging via NuGet is wrong, https://blog.lextudio.com/2015/05/whats-microsoft-web-administration-and-the-horrible-facts-you-should-know/ – Lex Li May 30 '15 at 03:53
  • @LexLi Looks like MS now owns the MWA NuGet package, so it might not be as wrong anymore. – TLS Oct 31 '16 at 16:42
  • @TLS I will update the blog post once I get confirmation from Microsoft. – Lex Li Oct 31 '16 at 23:46
2

C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv

or

C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.web.administration-nonmsil_31bf3856ad364e35_6.1.7600.16385_none_c8472944f22a9c81

C:\Windows\WinSxS\x86_microsoft.web.administration-nonmsil_31bf3856ad364e35_6.3.9600.16384_none_5d1097a8ac709c4e

user3178007
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2

Use Nuget:

Microsoft.Web.Administration

enter image description here

alansiqueira27
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    What is wrong with this obvious solution that it has -1 votes? Anyone care to elaborate? – Florian Winter Feb 09 '17 at 12:17
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    The Microsoft.Web.Administration package is known to be horribly implemented and more likely to cause harm than good. – Kristian Williams Apr 19 '18 at 12:54
  • The blogpost by Lex Li in [his answer](https://stackoverflow.com/a/30542029/2157640) tells why one never wants to use the package. TL;DR: MWA is just a wrapper around IIS COM interfaces and is subject to change with each version of IIS. The NuGet package is designed for internal use in IIS.Administration. – Palec Dec 16 '18 at 07:52
1

Try to ensure these assemblies are installed via prebuild event:

Dism /online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerManagementTools /All

In installed whole IIS with all features this way, so used FeatureName is guesstimate for assemblies. Try next to list all features for alternative:

dism /online /Get-Features

DISM is available for Windows earlier then 8: To service inbox drivers in an offline image of Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows Server 2008 with SP2, you must use the Windows 7 version of DISM or PkgMgr. The Windows 7 version of DISM is available in Windows 7 and Windows PE 3.0 operating systems, or can be installed with the Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) or the Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit (Windows OPK) for Windows 7.

Also can try for Windows 7 and below: start /w pkgmgr /iu:IIS-WebServerManagementTools

Dzmitry Lahoda
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    Unfortunately this only applies to Windows 8 and above, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825236.aspx For IIS 7 and 7.5, users need to use legacy ways. – Lex Li May 30 '15 at 03:49
1

A bit of extra info, not a direct answer. IIS and IIS Express use two different versions of the same DLL, so your app might accidentally get the wrong one. See http://rdingwall.com/2013/09/22/microsoft-web-administration-confusion/

Tom Winter
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1

You could always just load the dll dynamically, and never directly reference it in your project. That way you avoid all of the "reference" issues, NuGet packages, and so on. However, you will still need to verify that the dll is available on the end target.

var windowsPath = Environment.GetFolderPath(Environment.SpecialFolder.Windows);

var DLL = Assembly.LoadFile($@"{windowsPath}\System32\inetsrv\Microsoft.Web.Administration.dll");

if (DLL != null)
{
    // Get Server...
    foreach (Type type in DLL.GetExportedTypes())
    {
        if (type.Name == "ServerManager")
        {
            dynamic server = Activator.CreateInstance(type);
            dynamic applicationPools = server.ApplicationPools;
            foreach (dynamic pool in applicationPools)
            {
                MessageBox.Show(pool.Name);
            }

            // Done -- Get Out...
            break;
        }
    }
}
Silverten
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0

The simplest way to do this is install NuGet in Visual Studio from this link. http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/27077b70-9dad-4c64-adcf-c7cf6bc9970c

Then, in Visual Studio, go to Tools->NuGet Package Manager-> Package Manager Console

Then, select Default Project to be the project that you want to install to.

Finally, Run Install-Package Microsoft.Web.Administration command.

thestar
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  • I downvoted because this answer is the same as the currently top-voted one, which is posted 3 months earlier. The only thing this adds is a "guide" on installing NuGet, which imho is unrelated to the question. – user247702 Sep 18 '14 at 13:31
  • I was new to this and top voted question didn't help me out understanding how to follow the entire process. I did end up spending some time with it, so i thought i should post it and help someone else. But I don't mind down vote, i will keep it in mind. :) Thanks – thestar Sep 19 '14 at 00:03
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    The NuGet package is not from Microsoft, and goes against the official guide, https://blog.lextudio.com/2015/05/whats-microsoft-web-administration-and-the-horrible-facts-you-should-know/ – Lex Li May 30 '15 at 03:39
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    Lex Li.. Thank you for the comment, but where did i say NuGet Package is from Microsoft? – thestar May 31 '15 at 14:05
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    @thestar More importantly, the NuGet package has no licensing info, and the assembly is made by Microsoft while the NuGet package isn't. Legally you have no right to redistribute that assembly until Microsoft releases license information for that assembly. –  Jun 21 '15 at 23:45
-4

Add new project to your solution called "referenced assemblies" and add the DLL to this project - this way the DLL will be in the source control. You can then reference the project using the "Browse" option in add reference.

Your colleagues will be happy because you they will not miss this DLL as it is in source control.

Peter
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