Unable to create and debug ASP.NET web application using Visual Studio 2005 on IIS 7.0

When we try to create ASP.NET web application using Visual Studio 2005 on Windows Vista running IIS 7.0, we may get the following error:

"Unable to create the Web 'https://localhost/<website>'. The Web server does not appear to have the FrontPage server extensions installed."

This happens since Visual Studio 2005 IDE uses the IIS metabase APIs to create and configure applications in IIS. So, we must install the metabase compatibility component for IIS 7.0

Here are the steps:

1. Install the metabase compatibility component for IIS.

a. Open the Control Panel and click on Programs and Features. In the left pane, click Turn Windows features on or off.

b. Expand Internet Information Services. Expand Web Management Tools and then expand IIS 6 Management Compatibility.

c. Select the IIS Metabase and IIS 6 Configuration Compatibility check box.

d. Click OK to start the installation process.

2. Explicitly run Visual Studio as administrator.

We must run Visual Studio 2005 in the context of an administrator account before we can develop web applications on Windows Vista. By default, Windows runs applications in a limited-privilege user account even when you are logged on to the computer as an administrator.

To run Visual Studio 2005 with administrative privileges in Windows Vista, click Start -> All Programs. Then, right-click on Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, and then click Run as administrator.

Happy web programming!!!!!