IISExpress Log File Location

Question

IISExpress writes log and configuration data to a predefined location out of the box.

The directory is an IISExpress directory stored in the User Documents folder.

The following folder files are stored in the directory below.

• Config
• Magazines
• TraceLogFiles

The location of my home directory is located in a network resource defined by group policy.

We are currently facing scenarios where the visual studio is blocked when stopping debugging of Silverlight applications using IIS Express.

I was looking to change the location for the log and configuration data for IISExpress to make sure that this fixes the visual studio lock problem. Is it possible to change the default location of the log files and configuration?

Answer 1

1. By default, the applicationhost.config file defines the following two locations of log files. Here IIS_USER_HOME will be expanded as %userprofile%\documents\IISExpress\ .

 <siteDefaults> <logFile logFormat="W3C" directory="%IIS_USER_HOME%\Logs" /> <traceFailedRequestsLogging directory="%IIS_USER_HOME%\TraceLogFiles" enabled="true" /> </siteDefaults> 

You can update above directory paths to change the location of the log files.

2. If you are running IIS Express from the command line, you can use the '/ config' switch to provide the configuration file of your choice. The following link may help you http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/870/running-iis-express-from-the-command-line/

Answer 2

http://www.iis.net/configreference/system.applicationhost/sites/sitedefaults

 <configuration> <system.applicationHost> <sites> <siteDefaults> <logFile logFormat="W3C" directory="%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\LogFiles" enabled="true" /> <traceFailedRequestsLogging enabled="true" directory="%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\FailedReqLogFiles" maxLogFiles="20" /> <limits connectionTimeout="00:01:00" /> <ftpServer serverAutoStart="true" /> <bindings> <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="127.0.0.1:8080:" /> </bindings> </siteDefaults> </sites> </system.applicationHost> </configuration> 

I believe the web.config documentation is messy. Therefore, it is better to provide a complete parental story than a floating snippet, with the expectation that the reader naturally knows where he is going.

Answer 3

By default it will be:

C: \ Users \ username \ Documents \ IISExpress \ Logs \