Publish WCF Service app on IIS Express using Web Deployment

Question

I want to publish WCF Service Application created in Visual Studio 2010 on IIS Express.

So I'm using Project -> Publish -> Web Deploy:

Service URL: http://localhost
Site/application: wcf

But ran into some miss-understanding:

• Web Deployment requires a virtual directory, it doesn't want to publish in the site root
• IIS Express doesn't support virtual directories

How can I accomplish the task?

Answer 1

You can add a virtual directory via a command line using appcmd:

appcmd add vdir /app.name:<site_name>/ /path:/<virtual_directory> /physicalPath:<physical_location> 

See here

Answer 2

You should be able to specify the destination of your web site/application in site properties -> Package/Publish Web. In the field "IIS Web Site/application name to use on the destination server" put the site name. There, by default, the application is specified as a virtual directory but it does not have to be. You can just put the name of your site there, without the "/" and then it will deploy to the root of the site, not a virtual (sub-)directory. See screenshot:

Answer 3

IIS Express does support virtual directories. Using appcmd command provided by 'Eugene' should work.

Answer 4

Fist of all, you need to specify the correct Service URL, i.e. http://server/MsDeployAgentService