IIS Express Configuration

I have been working on a web project which makes use of cookies, and required my development site to be on the same domain as another site which is currently in production. To allow a custom domain, continued use of VS debugging, and keeping development cycles short I

  • configured a custom domain in my hosts file, matching the domain the cookies I'm interested in
  • configured a Start URL in my web project in Visual Studio which matches this custom domain
  • under Servers, checked "Apply server settings to all users (store in project file), selected IIS Express, didn't change the Project Url, and checked the Override application root URL box

After making these changes, I ran the site and a login box was popping up, and when I cancelled it, I got a 401.2 error. For some reason, Windows Authentication had been switched on. This was coming from a configuration file managed by IIS Express.

To find IIS Express configuration for your currently running sites quickly and easily:

Find the tray icon for IIS express Tray icon

Click on it and this menu will appear: Tray menu

Click Show All Applications, and a list of running applications will be displayed: Application list

Click on an individual site name and you will see more details including the path to the applicationhost.config for this site: Application details