Question

I have got Windows xp sp3, Visual studio 2010 sp1, IIS Express 7.5 and IE8.
IN VS 2010 I am using IIS Express for new file-based web sites and projects.

Whenever I start debugging from VS, it opens IE empty window and then everything freezes. The only option out is to switch off computer.

Binding for the IIS default site – WebSite1 in applicationhost.config file is set to

// binding protocol=”http” bindingInformation=”:8080:localhost”//

If I start IIS Express from command prompt common outcomes are as follows:

1) If I start Website1 from IIS Express icon in task bar – iisexpresstray, most of the time I receive IE window with the message “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage”.
From the weblog file the only unusual thing that I can see is that Client-IP and Server-IP are given in IPv6 format “::1”

All other times everything freezes and nothing is recorded neither in weblog file nor in web trace files. Also windows event viewer does not have any recorded event linked to this event.

2) If I try to open Website1 directly from IE http: //localhost:8080/ most of the time site opens properly. From the weblog file I find that Client-IP and Server-IP are given as 127.0.0.1.

Sometimes I get “Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage” as above and weblog file again shows Client-IP and Server-IP in IPv6 format as “::1”.

Sometimes it freezes windows as above without any trace neither in weblog file nor in web trace files nor windows event viewer.

Any thoughts? Keep in mind that I have limited knowledge about these things.

Answer 1

It seems to me that problem is somewhere along the routing chain. Some link (obviously important one if it is able to crash windows!) in the chain does not understand IPv6 syntax. I do not have either skill or time to investigate this further, but at least I came up with the work around.

The idea is to force everyone to work with IPv4 notation instead of IPv6 one.

    1) In Visual Studio 2010 SP1 open project’s properties page
    2) Select “Web” tab. 
    3) In the “Servers” area select “Apply server settings to all 
    users (store in project file)”, 
    4) Select “Use Local IIS Web server”, 
    5) Select “Use IIS Express” 
    6) In the Project Url text box enter 
    http://127.0.0.1:8081 
    instead of 
    http://localhost:8081 .

Or check and eventually change manually:

    1) In C:\...\My Documents\IISExpress\config\ applicationhost.config replace
    <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:8081:localhost" /> 
    with
    <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:8081:127.0.0.1" />

    2) Also in Visual studio project file *.csproj replace
    <IISUrl>http://localhost:8081/</IISUrl> 
    with
    <IISUrl>http://127.0.0.1:8081/</IISUrl>.