Visual Studio cannot create the application <application>. The likeliest problem is that required components are not installed on the local Web server.

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Visual Studio is not getting an appropriate response from the Web server because some components are not installed properly. The correct order for installing the components needed to run ASP.NET on a Web server is as follows:

  1. Make sure that the Web server computer is running a server version of Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Server 2003.

  2. Install Internet Information Services (IIS). IIS is a Windows component that in recent editions of Windows is not installed by default.

  3. Install the .NET Framework, which includes ASP.NET. The .NET Framework installation does not check for the presence of IIS, since it is a general installation and not specific to ASP.NET.

  4. Install Visual Studio components that are required for Visual Studio to be able to communicate with the Web server.

  5. Run a security lockdown tool to reduce the attack surface of IIS and the Web server computer. (Optional, but highly recommended.)

If the installation is performed in this order, the components are configured properly. Problems arise if steps are performed out of order or if a step is skipped. For example, Step 2 is sometimes skipped because the installer believes that IIS is already installed. This, in turn, often leads to Step 2 being performed last, which results in an improper configuration.

If the server is not configured properly, you can correct it by installing components using the sequence described in the following procedure.

Note

All of the following tasks must be completed on the Web server computer.

To reconfigure a computer for Web development

  1. Verify that IIS is installed. One way is to open Control Panel and then choose Internet Services Manager. If IIS is installed, you will be able to use this utility to stop and start it.

    If IIS is not installed, in the Windows Control Panel, select Add or Remove Programs and then Add/Remove Windows Components. In the list, select Internet Information Services (IIS) and proceed with the installation. For details, see Windows Help.

    Security noteSecurity Note

    When you install IIS, it is strongly recommended that you secure the Web server computer. For details, see the file WebServer.htm that is part of the setup documentation. You can find the file on the setup CD at Disk1\Setup\WebServer.htm. After Visual Studio installation, you can also find it on the hard disk at %install%\CSetupMM\WebServer.htm.

  2. Install or re-install the .NET Framework. Run the Visual Studio installation and select Option 1, Windows Component Update.

    Note

    If you are sure that the current version of the .NET Framework is installed on the Web server computer, you can skip this step.

  3. Open the Windows Run window, and type the following to enable ASP.NET: aspnet_regiis.exe /i

    Tip

    You can open a command window directly in the correct directory for the command. From the Windows Start menu, point to Programs, Microsoft Visual Studio, Visual Studio Tools, and then choose Visual Studio Command Prompt. When the window opens, type the following: aspnet_regiis /i

  4. Install Visual Studio server components.

    1. Run the Visual Studio installation again and select Option 2, Visual Studio 2005.

      Tip

      You can run the installation from the Control Panel by selecting Add or Remove Programs, selecting Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (the name varies slightly according to what version and language you have installed), and clicking Change/Remove.

    2. Select Add or Remove Features.

    3. Open the Server Components node and select the Web Development check box.

    4. Click Update Now!

  5. Perform a security lockdown on IIS, but then enable ASP.NET.

    If you are using IIS 5.0 with Windows 2000 or Windows XP, you can use the IIS Lockdown Tool.

    In Windows Server 2003, you can set security levels for applications in IIS Manager. For more information about using IIS Manager and unlocking ASP.NET applications, see Visual Studio .NET has detected that ASP.NET applications and services are locked down in IIS.

See Also

Reference

ASP.NET IIS Registration Tool (Aspnet_regiis.exe)