How to debug ASP.NET Core webapp using a URL other than localhost

Question

I have a web application that behaves differently depending on the hostname. To test it on my local PC, I will then need to arrange for IISExpress to run the web application using a specific name that I provide in Project -> Properties -> Debug, such as http://mywebsite:58981/.

But when start debugging, a pop up message "Unable to connect to web server 'IIS Express'" pops up. And Windows 10 activity center alerted me of a message and upon clicking it, I received this pop-up from IIS Express:

I tried what other users suggested such as deleting the .vs folder containing the applicationhost.config and restarted the solution, but it still doesn't work. I even made sure that IIS Express doesn't have anything else running:

But if I changed the App URL back to http://localhost:58981/, deleted the .vs folder, and open the solution, I can debug as usual.

So my question is: how do I change the URL from localhost to something else? I'm running Visual Studio 2019 and my Windows 10 is 1903 edition.

Publish the web app to IIS and then you can test it out or debug on IIS. Microsoft designs VS/IIS Express integration to work only for localhost for a reason, which you probably should not challenge. Of course, there can be third party options. More background can be found in blog.lextudio.com/… — Lex Li
– Lex Li, Commented May 8, 2019 at 3:38

Nan Yu · Accepted Answer · 2019-05-08 05:26:49Z

5

The first advise is run Visual Studio as Administrator.

Modify the IIS Express configuration files , go to edit file :

\{project folder}\.vs\{yourWebApplicationName}\config\applicationhost.config

You will find something like this(find with your application name):

<site name="WebApplication3" id="2">
    <application path="/" applicationPool="WebApplication3 AppPool">
      <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="C:\Users\Administrator\source\repos\WebApplication3\WebApplication3" />
    </application>
    <bindings>
      <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:53717:localhost" />
      <binding protocol="https" bindingInformation="*:44325:localhost" />

    </bindings>
</site>

Add in <bindings>, add another row with your own IP, port number:

<binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:53717:mywebsite" />

Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc edit the hosts file (copy to another place ,edit and copy back):

# localhost name resolution is handled within DNS itself.
    127.0.0.1       mywebsite
#   ::1             localhost

Then you could use http://mywebsite:53707 to debug your application , you may comment out app.UseHttpsRedirection(); in Configure to handle HTTP request .

answered May 8, 2019 at 5:26

Nan Yu

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2 Comments

GratefulDisciple Over a year ago

Thanks! Running as administrator does the trick. And manually adding additional binding solution is elegant and I just need to do it once, so once it's done, I can switch between hostname without restarting the debugging session.

EKanadily Over a year ago

running vs as admin is OK? i remember reading somewhere that running vs as admin can cause some trouble but i don't remember what was the trouble tbh.

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