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I have just downloaded and installed IIS express and it all works well running it from the command line:

But how do i configure options for it, is there a standalone windows interface for it like IIS Manager or do you have do do everything manually in the config files? Or do you have to install webmatrix to configure it?

skaffman
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user575575
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4 Answers4

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IIS Express is a lightweight version of IIS and it doesn't ship with the the admin UI tool like IIS Manager. You could install WebMatrix, but it only allows you to configure few settings (binding, default documents, SSL). The options you have today:

  1. you can use appcmd.exe command line tool that can be found in the installation directory of IIS Express under the "Program Files". Majority of appcmd snippets from the IIS Configuration Reference located on http://www.iis.net/ConfigReference/ would work
  2. if you use Visual Studio, then you should be able to open %userprofile%\documents\IISExpress\config\applicationhost.config or your application's web.config and use intellisense to edit IIS configuration settings
Sunny S.M
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Jaro Dunajsky
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  • i thought that might be the answer :( – user575575 Jan 17 '11 at 16:09
  • Your answer just helped me solve a similar issue - thanks! – jamauss Feb 21 '12 at 23:06
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    Ideally one would be able to start IIS Manager on Windows 7 and create another connection to IISExpress. However, IIS Manager on client-side Windows doesn't even support multiple connections so yes, editing files / executing commands manually is the only option. – Borek Bernard Mar 14 '12 at 01:13
  • @Borek, Microsoft does ship a version of IIS Manager (for remote management) for Windows Vista/7/8 which allows you to add multiple connections (but only to Windows Server). IIS Express does not have a management service exposed, so IIS Manager won't be able to manage it technically. If you do need to fully functional console for IIS Express, Jexus Manager for IIS Express (see my answer) is a more feasible option. – Lex Li May 08 '15 at 13:30
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I am preparing an UI for IIS Express. I will be glad if you check it out.

http://lordamit.blogspot.com/2012/05/iis-express-manager-v01b.html

LordAmit
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    As simple as it is, this is actually an awesome little tool. It's clearly missing features such as managing sites (create, edit, etc), but for existing sites - its already useful. – AASoft Aug 12 '12 at 01:29
  • Any plans on updating this for 2020 to include a configuration GUI. – Reahreic Apr 27 '21 at 13:14
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Jexus Manager for IIS Express is a management console that's quite similar to IIS Manager,

https://blog.lextudio.com/2014/10/jexus-manager-for-iis-express/

Jexus Manager for IIS Express

Unlike command line access (IIS Express's appcmd), or a small set of settings to change (like other IIS Express utilities or Visual Studio/WebMatrix), Jexus Manager is designed to provide access to as many settings as possible (even more than IIS Manager if technically feasible).

You can download the latest build from

https://www.jexusmanager.com

Feedback is welcome.

Lex Li
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  • This looks great, good work! – Duncan Smart Jan 26 '16 at 10:01
  • Amazing idea, but software requires updates for the later IIS Express. This seems to be a display only view. – Radderz May 11 '16 at 09:30
  • @Radderz Nope. All IIS Express releases should be supported. If you meet any issue with a certain release, please fire a bug report. Thanks. It is still a beta and will be fully open sourced soon. – Lex Li May 11 '16 at 10:51
  • @LexLi ok will do, am finding various problems committing any changes, but viewing configuration is fine. I will file some reports. – Radderz May 11 '16 at 15:18
  • I'd used this in the past and it was extremely buggy (unhandled errors, etc). The upgrade check said I had the latest version (10-ish) but when I checked around the web I found version 12+ and it's _much_ better. The project seems to be being maintained now. Give it a try. – SteveCinq Aug 15 '18 at 01:20
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I implemented a GUI for IISExpress for:

  • adding/modifying websites
  • start/stop websites

Hope it can help:

https://ilmatte.github.io/IISExpressGUI/

ilmatte
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  • worked for me, thanks. nb I did still have to edit the config file for a site with 2 bindings (http & https) – Chris F Carroll Feb 03 '15 at 09:04
  • Hello Chris, I hope to be able to work on it soon to add that kind of functionality while keeping it simple and basic. – ilmatte Feb 06 '15 at 09:50