Vista + IIS 7 + Local IIS web site = error?

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Finally got around to getting a clean install of Vista Beta 2 on my laptop and of course the first thing I install is Visual Studio 2005 and IIS 7 to see how the Local IIS option is going to play with the newly revamped IIS. Well, if you choose the default options, this is the message you get when selecting Local IIS in the Open/Create Web Site dialog:

You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer to access the IIS metabase. Therefore, you cannot create or open a local IIS Web site. If you have Read, Write, and Modify permissions for the folder where the files are located, you can create a file system Web site that points to the folder in order to edit the files.

Initially I'm thinking this is the User Account Control feature in Vista blocking me from accessing the metabase. So I turned that off in the Local Security Policy and still no go.

I then remembered an IIS 6 option under the Windows Features install dialog under Internet Information Services and found the following option that allows VS 2005 to play with IIS 7....IIS Metabase and IIS 6 configuration compatibility. Here are the steps:

  1. Open Control Panel
  2. Open Programs
  3. Open Windows Features
  4. Expand Internet Information Services
  5. Expand Web Management Tools
  6. Expand IIS 6 Management Compatibility
  7. Check IIS Metabase and IIS 6 configuration compatibility
  8. Click OK

Here is another blog that discusses debugging in this environment:
https://mvolo.com/blogs/serverside/archive/2006/12/28/Fix-problems-with-Visual-Studio-F5-debugging-of-ASP.NET-applications-on-IIS7-Vista.aspx

Hopefully this can save somebody some time when/if they run into it.