Will IIS always use virtual directory over a real directory? - iis

If I setup a virtual folder under a website, but there is also a real folder with the same name then can I trust that IIS will always use the virtual path rather than the real path?

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Virtual directory and the namesake physical folder

I am using IIS10 and have a question about virtual directory.
IF
there is a virtual directory called "test", I can visit it by typing "http://localhost/test" in my browser.
However, IF
there is a physical folder also called "test" in the default folder (like "wwwroot"),I can also visit it by the same way.
When they both exist at the same time, entering "http://localhost/test" in my browser,I can only visit the virtual directory.
The question is
What is the difference between them? (I can visit them in the same way)
A virtual directory is nothing but, is just pointing or refers to your folder in your local machine or remote server. If you are create virtual directory under Default Web Site in IIS. Suppose if default web site got crashed due to some internal problem you cannot access your virtual directory.
As you said both physical folder and virtual directory in the same root with same name can do the same action. but the difference is virtual directory can also map the folder where its differ from the parent folder.

Possible to use Virtual Path to an external disk on Plesk Managed Windows server?

After getting a helpful answer from this post I want to store media on a separate harddrive on the windows server. Is it possible to make those files available via http?
I soon discovered that Plesk does not allow me to create a virtual path that points to a location outside of my website root. I want the virtual path to point to a folder on D: (an extra disk, not the same as the website root directory)
Only two possible solutions I could think of, although I can't find them any where.
1) Maybe plesk has an advanced configuration file that prevents it from overwriting certain things in IIS when it runs its maintenance jobs or updates, specifically the Virtual Path I created directly in IIS outside of plesk.
2) Maybe there is a third party component available that offers this functionality, setting virtual paths outside of web root or the config file I just mentioned in #1.
Any other solutions are also welcome.
cd "%plesk_vhosts%\"domain.tld\httpdocs
mklink /J point c:\outOfSpace
Now provide permissions to "psacln" group to c:\outOfSpace and that's it.
Also you can create "point" not in httpdocs but in web space root and than from Plesk create Virtual Folder inside /httpdocs with needed access permissions.
There is issue that your custom permissions may lost after Plesk upgrade, this KB article describe how your can avoid it kb.sp.parallels.com/111194

When I create a webpage within IIS (Windows Server) and I get asked to specify the "physical path" ,do I need to

specify a folder within the "inetpub/wwwroot" folder or maybe I can specify a folder that is located in my desktop?
In my setup it seems like I can only specify a folder that is within the inetpub folder!
The physical path can be anywhere on your server that you specify. It does not need to be under inetpub. However, inetpub has some default permissions configured on it which are beneficial to you hosting websites there.

Correct IIS 7.5 physical path

In IIS 7.5 I have a site called App with one application App and one Virtual Directory Vir.
c:\Website\App
c:\Website\Vir
Let's say my starting page is as follows:
c:\Website\App\Default.asp
Is the correct physical path for the site?
c:\Website
or is it
c:\Website\App
Whatever the path you have defined for virtual directory of the site.
If you have create this page is app(c:\Website\site) or site(c:\Website\App) then it refers to its virtual directory physical path.
If you have created this page in specific virtual directory(c:\Website\Vir) then it refers to its physical path.
Actually you need to understand the difference site vs application vs virtual directory in IIS. you can refer this link

IIS7 Virtual Directory Redirects

On our old IIS6 server, we handled IIS redirects by:
Setting up a virtual directory on the site
Pointing the virtual directory to a physical path on the server
In the VD properties, set it to redirect to a URL
I'm trying to replicate this in IIS7 by doing the following:
Set up a virtual directory on the site
Point the virtual directory to a physical path on the server
In the VD features, double click on HTTP Redirect and add the URL to redirect to.
This works fine if I only have one virtual directory. If I add another, the settings in the second VD overwrite the settings of the first!
Is this a common issue, and has anyone found a workaround? Anything would be appreciated.
When you configure an HTTP Redirect in IIS 7 for a Virtual Directory it creates a web.config file in the physical path. The work around is to point each Virtual Directory to a unique physical path.
I use folder structure like this:
\path\redirects[site_name][virtual_dir_name]

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