Where is the IIS Express configuration / metabase file found?

Myster picture Myster · Oct 18, 2012 · Viewed 227.7k times · Source

Where can the IIS Express configuration / metabase file be found?

Answer

Myster picture Myster · Oct 18, 2012

The configuration file is called applicationhost.config. It's stored here:

My Documents > IIS Express > config

usually, but not always, one of these paths will work

%userprofile%\documents\iisexpress\config\applicationhost.config
%userprofile%\my documents\iisexpress\config\applicationhost.config

Update for VS2019
If you're using Visual Studio 2019+ check this path:

$(solutionDir)\.vs\{projectName}\config\applicationhost.config

Update for VS2015 (credit: @Talon)
If you're using Visual Studio 2015-2017 check this path:

$(solutionDir)\.vs\config\applicationhost.config

In Visual Studio 2015+ you can also configure which applicationhost.config file is used by altering the <UseGlobalApplicationHostFile>true|false</UseGlobalApplicationHostFile> setting in the project file (eg: MyProject.csproj). (source: MSDN forum)