Inetinfo.exe Crashes On Certain Web Project

Great. Just spent a nice two hours figuring out why inetinfo.exe (the IIS process) crashes when I open a certain web project.

I went Googling, and after a while I found a KB article describing the exact problem I had, even with the exact same event ID’s in the system event log. But I couldn’t find a download, and even if I did, it was Windows Server 2003 only. Had something to do with an exploit in the SMTP service. Anyway, that didn’t help me.

So I tried something totally not logical: opening a different web application in my IDE. And bingo: it opened just fine. So maybe the configuration of the ‘bad’ project was defunct? -No. And so it should be, I hadn’t tinkered with it for a long time, so why would it suddenly not work anymore. (As the rest of this story will show, I forgot to check one setting.)

Then, my penny dropped (“mijne frang viel” -Flemish expression): I recently added another web site in IIS, besides the default one. This had to be done for another, single, project that used .NET 2.0. And indeed, the configuration for the ‘bad’ project was wrong: it said to use .NET 2.0, where it was previously using 1.1.

I suppose switching between the two sites fires a bug in IIS, overwriting some configurations…? I don’t know, but I’m fairly sure the config for the ‘bad’ project has stayed the same ever since it was created…

Anyhoo, another experience richer I guess.

Technorati Tags: inetinfo.exe, IIS, .NET, web project

When IIS and ASP.NET don’t get along

I found an interesting article while looking for a solution to an error I got on a form. The form contains several server-side validator controls, and when I would load the form, an error pops up telling me it can’t find the WebUIValidation.js file.
I’m familiar with this error. I’ve seen colleagues get it, but never experienced it myself. But recently, I got a new laptop, installed all the necessary software, and I even worked on a project, without having that same error. Only today, when I switched to another project, the error pops up out of nowhere.

This page [ searchvb.techtarget.com ] clearly explains what and how, and provides info about the .NET utility aspnet_regiis.exe, and its different uses. A must-know.

Technorati Tags: iis, asp.net, aspnet_regiis, WebUIValidation.js