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Recover IIS When ApplicationHost.config is Ruined

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2 Aug 2013CPOL 57.8K   5   3
Introduce how to recover IIS when it is broken by bad editing to applicationHost.config

Issue Description 

Sometimes we have to manually modify applicationHost.config. It is risky because bad editing can ruin the file and cause IIS to be broken. IIS cannot recover even after we have fixed the errors in all applicationHost.config files appeared on the machine and have restarted the machine.

Solution 

The solution is to use AppCmd.exe. We can find it in C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv.

First, we use "appcmd list backup" to display all the available backups. Then we pick out a proper backup and use "appcmd restore backup <backup name>" to recover IIS. You could see these steps in the following screenshot: 

Image 1

Note: You need to open the backup file and check if it contains errors before you choose it to recover IIS. You could find these backup files in C:\inetpub\history. The sub folder names are the same as the backup names.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Architect
China China
Over 10-years experience in using Microsoft technologies.
At present, working as the architect of a clustered real-time data delivery and visualization system, responsible for the design of component architecture, product packaging and deployment, also targeting private cloud solutions for future.

Comments and Discussions

 
QuestionThanks Pin
Member 1006086823-Jan-19 4:58
Member 1006086823-Jan-19 4:58 
Questionit works Pin
ahuenupan8-Nov-18 8:44
ahuenupan8-Nov-18 8:44 
QuestionCorrupted ApplicationHost.config file ... other issues Pin
Michael Breeden31-Dec-14 3:13
Michael Breeden31-Dec-14 3:13 
Since this topic is here, I'll add to it.

In Windows 7 Professional, I am constantly having problems with the ApplicationHost.config file turning into ... mush... certainly it is no longer XML. The backup ones mentioned in the article were not available. I got a copy of it from another machine and replaced it. I keep a copy with another name in the C:\Users\me\Documents\IISExpress\config directory under another name. When the original gets corrupted as it frequently does, I just delete it, make a copy of the backup and rename it to ApplicationHost.config. I have not found many references to this problem and have not figured out what to do to fix it, but I have learned to deal with it, if rather crudely.
I do think the culprit is VS 2013.

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