Question

When trying to debug a web application configured to use IIS Express 7.5 in Visual Studio 2010, I received the following error “Unable to launch the IIS Express Web server”

When running from the command line with the /trace:error switch I got the following

C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS
Express>iisexpress.exe
/trace:error
Starting IIS Express
…
Initializing the W3 Server
Started CTC = 1857831
W3 Server
initializing WinSock. CTC =
1857847
W3 Server WinSock
initialized. CTC = 1857847
W3
Server ThreadPool initialized (ipm has
signalled). CTC = 1857847
Failed
to call RegisterModule for
dll=C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS
Express\loghttp.dll,
mod=HttpLoggingModule
Failed
processing with hr = 800706ba
Error loading global modules. hr =
800706ba
Terminating W3_SERVER
object
Start listenerChannel
http:0
Initializing the W3 Server
Started CTC = 1858845
W3 Server
initializing WinSock. CTC =
1858861
W3 Server WinSock
initialized. CTC = 1858861
W3
Server ThreadPool initialized (ipm has
signalled). CTC = 1858861
Failed
to call RegisterModule for
dll=C:\Program Files (x86)\IIS
Express\loghttp.dll,
mod=HttpLoggingModule
Failed
processing with hr = 800706ba
Error loading global modules. hr =
800706ba
Terminating W3_SERVER
object
InitComplete event
signalled
Report ListenerChannel
stopped due to failure;
ProtocolId:http,
ListenerChannelId:0
Process Model
Shutdown called
Waiting for all
LISTENER_CHANNELS to stop
Failed
to start ‘HostedWASStart’. Error =
34022648
HostableWebCore
activation failed.
Unable to
start iisexpress.

Notes –

I have tried uninstalling and re-installing IIS Express 7.5 a number of times with the same results.

I am running a Windows 7 64-bit machine

IIS Express has been working without issue for a number of months now. The issue only started after restarting my computer this morning.

Answer 1

A couple of suggestions that may help:

How did you reinstall iis-express? If you haven’t done so, you can try re-installing Visual Studio 2010 SP1, which contains iis-express.

Try using process monitor to watch the iis-express process to see if there are any permission issues when attempting to start it.

As a last resort, you can disable the logging module by modifying the applicationhost.config, which is located in the %userprofile%\documents\IISexpress\config directory. To do so you will need to comment out a couple lines in the file.

Under the <system.webServer>/<globalModules> element, comment out the line

<add name="HttpLoggingModule" image="%IIS_BIN%\loghttp.dll" />

Under the <location>/<system.webServer>/<modules> element, comment out the line

<add name="HttpLoggingModule" lockItem="true" /> 

After saving your changes try restarting iis express.