The Web Application Project […] is configured to use IIS. The Web server […] could not be found.

Question

I have a web project in my solution file that is \"unavailable\" when I open the solution. When I right-click on the web project and reload the project, I get the following

Answer 1

For you Win8 users out there, if you follow the steps in the accepted answer, console spits out a message at you saying "thou shalt not use the command-line to execute this command" (paraphrasing). Instead, access the Programs & Features via Control Panel (or Windows + R > appwiz.cpl), click 'Turn Windows features on or off', and make sure you have the following installed:

Internet Information Services
  > World Wide Web Services
    > Application Development Features
      > ASP.NET 4.5

This will check a bunch of other options as well. As soon as I installed these features, and ran VS2012 with elevated permissions, I was able to launch my app successfully.

Answer 2

in my case, make sure you have a "Default" website