How to enable external request in IIS Express?

Question

How can I enable remote requests in IIS Express? Scott Guthrie wrote that is possible but he didn\'t say how.

Answer 1

This is insanely awesome and even covers HTTPS with pretty domain names:

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/WorkingWithSSLAtDevelopmentTimeIsEasierWithIISExpress.aspx

The really awesome parts I couldn't find anywhere else on SO in case the above link ever goes away:

> C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS Express>IisExpressAdminCmd.exe Usage:
> iisexpressadmincmd.exe <command> <parameters> Supported commands:
>       setupFriendlyHostnameUrl -url:<url>
>       deleteFriendlyHostnameUrl -url:<url>
>       setupUrl -url:<url>
>       deleteUrl -url:<url>
>       setupSslUrl -url:<url> -CertHash:<value>
>       setupSslUrl -url:<url> -UseSelfSigned
>       deleteSslUrl -url:<url>
> 
> Examples: 1) Configure "http.sys" and "hosts" file for friendly
> hostname "contoso": iisexpressadmincmd setupFriendlyHostnameUrl
> -url:http://contoso:80/ 2) Remove "http.sys" configuration and "hosts" file entry for the friendly  hostname "contoso": iisexpressadmincmd
> deleteFriendlyHostnameUrl -url:http://contoso:80/

The above utility will register the SSL certificate for you! If you use the -UseSelfSigned option, it's super easy.

If you want to do things the hard way, the non-obvious part is you need to tell HTTP.SYS what certificate to use, like this:

netsh http add sslcert ipport=0.0.0.0:443 appid={214124cd-d05b-4309-9af9-9caa44b2b74a} certhash=YOURCERTHASHHERE

Certhash is the "Thumbprint" you can get from the certificate properties in MMC.

Answer 2

If you're working with Visual Studio then follow these steps to access the IIS-Express over IP-Adress:

1. Get your host IP-Adress: ipconfig in Windows Command Line

2. GoTo

   $(SolutionDir)\.vs\config\applicationHost.config
   

3. Find

   <site name="WebApplication3" id="2">
      <application path="/" applicationPool="Clr4IntegratedAppPool">
         <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="C:\Users\user.name\Source\Repos\protoype-one\WebApplication3" />
      </application>
      <bindings>
        <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:62549:localhost" />
      </bindings>
   </site>
   

4. Add: <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:62549:192.168.178.108"/>
   with your IP-Adress

5. Run your Visual Studio with Administrator rights and everything should work
6. Maybe look for some firewall issues if you try to connect from remote