HOW TO: Use File Share Mode for a Share Other Than the Default wwwroot$ Share

Configure the IIS Web Server

1. Create a folder (for example, C:\Projects) to contain your Web application or Web applications.
2. Share the folder (for example, sharename = projects).
3. Give the VS Developers group full control of this shared folder. Make sure that the user who will create the ASP.NET Web application belongs to the VS Developers group.
4. Create a subfolder under the folder that you created in step 1 (for example, C:\Projects\App2) for the new Web application.
5. In Internet Services Manager, create a virtual directory (for example, App2) that points to the new application folder (for example, C:\Projects\App2).
   
   NOTE: This virtual directory must point to the same physical folder that you created in step 4. Make sure that the virtual directory and physical folder names are the same.

Create the Project on the Remote Web Server

1. Start Visual Studio .NET on the client computer.
2. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project.
3. Click any language under Project Types, and then click ASP.NET Web Application under Templates.
4. In the Location box, type the following path, and then click OK:
   http://servername/appName
   where appName is the name of the virtual directory that you created in step 4 of the "Configure the IIS Web Server" section (earlier in this article).
   
   Because the virtual directory already exists but points outside the normal wwwroot$ share, you receive the following error message:
   The default Web access mode for this project is set to file share, but the project folder at http://lcdbg/app2 cannot be opened with the path \\lcdbg\wwwroot$\app2. The error returned was:
   
   Unable to create Web project 'app2'. The file path '\\lcdbg\wwwroot$\app2' does not correspond to the URL 'http://lcdbg/app2'. The two need to map to the same server location. HTPP Error 404: Object Not Found
5. Click Retry using a different file share path, and then type the file share path for the share that you want to use in the following format:
   \\ServerName\ShareName\appName
6. Click OK.
   
   Your Web application is created on the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) server.