Question

I have standard ASP.NET 4 application. Inside this application there are also few razor (e.g. test.cshtml) files. ASP.NET application works however if I point browser to /test file (without extension). IIS (static file handler) returns 404.

The same application and even the standalone .cshtml files are working on local machine (with IIS7.5/Win7) and a server with (IIS7.5/Win2008R2), however it does not work the server with IIS7.0/Win2008.

MVC3 is installed on both machines, app pools on both machines are .NET 4.0 integrated.

How the .cshtml handlers works? When the IIS decides to use static file handler and when the .cshtml handler? What else should I check?

EDIT:

Clarification – I am not actually using whole MVC framework, it is just like plain-old .ASPX or PHP file. No controllers, no routes, no ‘views’. I am using it for a simple script in addition to old ASP.NET application.

I think it is not a programming issue, since it works on local computer, but rather a configuration issue – the IIS on the Win2008 server might not be configured properly.

EDIT2:

(Machines with IIS7.5 works, only machine with IIS7.0 does not work. But I am not sure whether it is a problem of IIS version.)

EDIT3:

On my local computer where it works, I have not set any routing. TheCodeKing and Keith suggested that I need to have a routing somewhere. Maybe yes, but it is not in my application. It might be set by default somewhere in IIS configuration.

Do you have any hints where this ‘implicit’ routing could be found?

EDIT4:

Note: On all computers there is HttpForbiddenHandler for *.cshtml, since you cannot download the cshtml file. And there is also the TransferRequestHandler for *.. (Both are enabled.)

EDIT5:

I have found that on the servers, where it is working, I need to have any .cshtml file in the web root. If I remove the .cshtml from the web root and try to invoke any from a subdirectory it will not work.

EDIT6:

I tried that on another two machines: one with IIS 7.5 and another with IIS 7.0. On IIS 7.5 it works (plain install no configuration), but on IIS 7.0 it does not work.

How to make it work on IIS 7.0?

Answer 1

Yay! After several days of struggling I’ve found it! :))

One way to make it work on IIS 7.0 is to enable runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests:

<modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" />

(Although, on IIS 7.5 it works even with the default value runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="false".)

Don’t ask me why:) Maybe someone can explain that.