How to launch IIS developer express from command prompt?

Posted Date: 08-Jul-2010		Category: IIS & Web hosting
Author: Windows 8 Guy	Member Level: Diamond
Rating:	Points: 15 (Rs 10)

This article explains how to launch IIS developer express from command prompt. It also covers various command line options you can use while launching IIS Express from command prompt.

IIS developer express is just launched and is currently under beta. In this article, I will cover how to launch IIS developer express from command prompt and how to use various command line parameters.

IIS Express executable and location

The primary executable file for IIS Express is "iisexpress.exe", located under "C:\Program Files\Microsoft WebMatrix". Notice that iisexpress is placed under the folder of WebMatrix.

How to launch IIS Developer Express from Command Prompt?

In order to launch IIS Express from command prompt, open command prompt. Navigate to the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft WebMatrix.

You can type "iisexpress.exe" from command prompt to launch the default site.

If you like to open a specifi site, you can use the command line switch "/site".

Example:

iisexpress /site:mywindowsclub

This will start the site mywindowsclub in the port specified for it. You may not see the site opening in the browser. When you launch the iisexpress from command prompt, it will start the iisexpress process and also will launch the iis express system tray icon.

If you like to open a website from any folder in your location, you can use the switches /path and /port to specify the path and port number respectively.

Example:
iisexpress /path:c:/myprojects/mywindowsclub/ /port:9010

You may experience a problem here. If you like to start a site from a folder, you should have configured the default document for iisexpress.

Another option is, enable directory browsing. To enable this, run the following command:

appcmd set config /section:system.webServer/directoryBrowse /enabled:true

Enable IIS Express directory browsing

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