Allow loading of JSON files in Visual Studio Express 2013 for Web

Question

I have the problem, that the IIS from Visual Studio Express 2013 for Web doesn\'t allow the loading of *.json files. When trying to load a *.json file I get a 403 Forbidden

Answer 1

• Open CMD with administrator privilages.

• Go to:

  cd C:\Program Files\IIS Express or
  cd C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS Express

• Run command:

  appcmd set config /section:staticContent /+[fileExtension='JSON',mimeType='application/x-javascript']

Answer 2

We may need to distinguish the Visual Studio development environment (with IIS Express) from local IIS and a remote server (like Azure WebSites). To specifically target IIS Express, for example, we edit %USERPROFILE%\Documents\IISExpress\config\applicationhost.config under system.webServer/staticContent:

<mimeMap fileExtension=".json" mimeType="application/javascript" />

I need to make this distinction because my local (intranet) IIS already has the JSON mime type defined. So when I deploy to Azure websites I use this transformation in Web.Release.config:

<system.webServer>
    <staticContent>
        <mimeMap fileExtension=".json" mimeType="application/javascript" xdt:Transform="Insert" />
    </staticContent>
</system.webServer>

Answer 3

After some more googling, and experimenting I found out, that you have to define IIS settings in the Web.config.

After adding the following configuration:

  <system.webServer>
    <staticContent>
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".json" mimeType="application/json" />
    </staticContent>
  </system.webServer>

it works like a charm.

Full setup file example:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<configuration>
  <system.web>
    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0"/>
  </system.web>
  <system.webServer>
    <staticContent>
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".json" mimeType="application/json" />
    </staticContent>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>

Answer 4

Better add remove tag in case future IIS has build in json support. This is my web.config section of mimeMap.

<system.webServer>
  <staticContent>
      <remove fileExtension=".woff" />
      <remove fileExtension=".woff2" />
      <remove fileExtension=".json" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".woff" mimeType="application/x-font-woff" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".woff2" mimeType="application/font-woff2" />
      <mimeMap fileExtension=".json" mimeType="application/json" />
  </staticContent>
<system.webServer>