How to configure the save-and-refresh development experience for ASP.NET Core with a local IIS server on Windows 10.
This guide is for RC1 only
Please note that this guide is written for RC1 only. As RC2 gets closer, or when it is released, I plan to write an updated version detailing the steps to obtain the save-and-refresh development experience using RC2.
Install the latest version of HttpPlatformHandler for your computer's architecture. These should be linked on the official ASP.NET docs for publishing to IIS: https://docs.asp.net/en/latest/publishing/iis.html
Use Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off to install the IIS Management Console, World Wide Web Services (default features are ok, and you can add any additional features desired), and the Windows Process Activation Service. The Windows Process Activation Service will install with a manual start required, so you will want to open the service manager, configure it to start automatically, and start it.
Make sure you have DNVM and DNX installed. Give IIS_IUSRS read/list/execute permissions on your user profile's .dnx folder.
Open IIS Manager, open the root server node and then open the configuration manager.
In the configuration manager, go to the system.webServer/handlers section and click the link-button labelled 'Unlock Section'.
Then, go to the system.applicationHost/applicationPools section and click the button to open the collection editor for environmentVariables under applicationPoolDefaults.
Note: If you are not running Windows 10 and thus do not have IIS 10, you cannot set the environment variables for the application pool. You may instead set these up as system environment variables. Setting the%DNX_PATH%variable as an environment variable under thehttpPlatformconfiguration section does not work.
Modify the collection to resemble the values shown in the figure below. Alter the values as needed to reflect your own username. When done, close the collection editor and click 'apply changes'.
Give IIS_USRS read/list/execute permissions on your solution's containing folder.
In your project's wwwroot folder, create a log folder, and give IIS_IUSRS write permissions on it.
Modify the project's web.config to make use of the new log folder.
Modify the project's project.json to include a watch command and refer to Microsoft.Dnx.Watcher as a dependency. If you are using Visual Studio, the package will be loaded automatically; otherwise, run dnu restore to restore the package.
Create an application pool for your project.
Create a site or a virtual application for your project, pointing it to the wwwroot folder and assigning it to the application pool you created. In the example below, a virtual application is created under a site called localhost which is bound to ports 80 and 443. You may configure your site or virtual application to suit your own needs.
Visit the site you created.
You can now edit your code, save, and refresh your browser.