This problem has a very simple (almost silly) fix, but it took me 2 hours to discover today, and none of my searches gave the answer, so I am posting this along with the answer to help others.
I have a website set up in IIS to run locally, which has worked in the past.
The URL is like: http://localhost/mywebsite
But today when I tried to open the site, it did not work in any of my browsers (IE, Chrome, and Firefox).
Even the main IIS Welcome page at http://localhost was not working.
Internet Explorer showed: "Can't reach this page / Make sure the web
address http://localhost is correct". Under "More information", it
showed "There was a temporary DNS error. Try refreshing the page.
Error Code: INET_E_RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND"
Firefox showed: "Unable to connect / Firefox can't establish a
connection to the server at localhost."
Chrome showed: "This site
can't be reached / localhost refused to connect /
ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED"
Neither restarting the server in IIS, nor calling iisreset from a command prompt fixed it.
I compared my "hosts" file to another computer which was not having the problem. Both had the same entry for "127.0.0.1 localhost".
I checked the Services panel and verified that "World Wide Web Publishing Services" was running.
I ran "netstat -a". It showed nothing listening on port 80, but I didn't know what was causing that.
Based on suggestions I found while searching for a solution, I tried the following, none of which fixed the problem:
I turned off User Account Control.
In IIS, I updated the Site Bindings for "Default Web Site" to change the port number from 80 to a different value, 8085. The site did not load with the new port number either.
In case something in IIS had gotten corrupted or messed up, I used "Turn Windows features on or off" to turn off all the features for Internet Information Services.
Then after rebooting, I turned them all on again and rebooted again.
I still had the same problem.
What else could be causing IIS and my local website not to work?
Make sure the website has been started in IIS:
In the left pane of IIS Manager under "Sites", select the appropriate site. If your site is configured under the "Default Web Site", select that one.
In the right pane under "Manage Website", there are "Start" and "Stop" links.
When the website is running, the Start icon (arrow) will be gray and its link will be disabled; the Stop icon (square) will be black and its link will be enabled.
When the website is NOT running, the Start arrow will be green and enabled; the Stop icon will be gray and disabled.
So if the Start link has a Green arrow by it, that means the website is NOT running, and you need to click to start it.
By default, web sites are started automatically when IIS is started or restarted.
But if you click the link to stop the site, it will remain stopped even after you reboot the computer or restart IIS. It won't be restarted until you click Start again.
I had also this situation where a local website hosted by IIS did not work. My site was already started but it seemed to lack the rights for an internet browser to access to the local site.
In my case I got the site working by giving the site's root folder (and its contents in the Windows 10 file system) the following usage rights:
Authenticated Users
This usage right can be set in folder properties and its security tab.
Other usage rights present are:
SYSTEM
My own account
Adminstrators (MACHINENAME\Admistrators)
I post this solution here in case someone is in trouble with the same issue.
An update: This 'Authenticated Users' group needs also permission to modify files and folders in case e.g. Wordpress is used as a local site and the adminstrator wants to e.g. update themes and plugins of the site.
If this permission is not set, Wordpress will fail to write the updates to the local folder. The message shown is: "Installation Failed: Could Not Create Directory".
However, please note that at the moment I cannot guarantee that these settings are completely safe and do not compromise your system for attackers etc. But I've taken the risk myself, and the settings will provide a working environment to develop locally.
some time this problem because the application pools is stopped after restart server machine this is problem happened me.Picture for clarification, enter image description here
I encountered this issue recently, and none of the other answers here helped me. I was unable to connect with http://localhost/mywebsite, but I could with http://127.0.0.1/mywebsite. I was able to put a bandaid on the issue by creating a new binding:
Type: https
IP address: All Unassigned
Port: 443
Host name: empty
[x] Disable Legacy TLS
SSL certificate: IIS Express Development Certificate
I could then connect with https://localhost/mywebsite. Hopefully this helps someone else!
I have created a new asp.net website and hosted it in IIS in a web server and its opening correctly in the webserver in IE but when I open it in my local windows computer I am getting the IIS welcome page. I am not able to understand how to fix this issue. Can anyone give me some suggestions. Other websites from the same server are working correctly as expected.
similar problem:
http://techspeeder.com/2016/10/28/server-2016-anywhere-access-shows-iis-instead-of-login-page/
Been stuck on this for hours I have a domain that I have properly updated DNS records to point to my IP. I have an MVC5 site I have built as a display for a Halloween game coming up. I had guests register online and the domain working on IIS ad www.mydomain.com/register.
I switched my project back to IIS Express and removed the site from IIS. I cannot for the life of me get IIS to show anything but the default blue IIS page (I can even access it remotely, firewall and router exceptions on the port remain) and I am pulling my hair out. I feel like I need to convert my site to an application, but only see that option if I create a virtual folder which in turns screws up my URL (the invites with the old URL have already went out) Any advice on what I might be missing or would be great.
Happy to provide more info if needed as well if this was not very clear.
I had my router forwarding the specified port to port 80. I was configuring IIS to the external port.
my website opens with xx.xxx.xxx.xxx IP address till friday it was working fine..after wards not able view the site in webbrowser...what could be the problem ? how can we solve it?
My server with this IP is working and can able to view the updated data in database ..but not able to view, or open the page of website.before the website under IIS configuration was stooped and now started again..still no use..am couldnt view Login page at all.My application was developed in classic asp long back.Kindly give me any suggestion to this...its very urgent...
I tried browsing the website in IIS manger(server) .It showing page cannot be displayed.
Thanks in advance.
First, Don't Panic. Staying calm can avoid further damage.
While it's hard to tell what could be the problem, the first thing you can do is to "ping" the domain from terminal.Can you login remotely? "wget" (on linux) will download the files from website, and could help you see if the files on the site are still accessible. Check from different browsers or machines, if possible. I'm no expert in asp or IIS, so won't advice on that front. But once I had faced the same situation with my website. So I just called up the hosting service provider, and it turned out it was their problem, and they brought the server online. If it's okay from their end, you might have changed some configurations in your server or application or there might be some up-gradation changing parameters, or even an accidental deletion/ moving/ renaming of files. Just try to remember what are the things you did with your server and application, before it went down, and also ask your server administrator. That will surely help you understand the problem better, if not help to solve it right away.
Good Luck.
im running a sharepoint services website on my laptop using a virtual server on the same laptop. i need to show other people (on external machines) the website in a development stage. i have sent them the same address i am using to open and ive given them their own log ons- they work on my machine.
the problem is that the site comes up with the IE cannot display the webpage even before they get to the log on stage. ive only been using sharepoint for a few days and dont really know my way around- can anyone help please
Try to use the IIS to map your internal server outside.