Unable to start debugging on the web server

[Sung]

Hi,

I'm an ASP.NET web developer using Visual Studio .NET
Framework 1.0. I recently rebuilt my developer machine
with fresh new installation of VS.NET. While I tried to
run my project, I got an error saying "Unable to start
debugging on the web server". I'm using IIS version 5.1.
Please help me and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Greg Dunn]

In attempting to run a very basic web application on a student machine in a
classroom, the following error message appears:

Error while trying to run project: Unable to start debugging on the web
server. Access is denied.

The associated Help entry recommends checking several things. I have listed
the results of doing so after each item. I will be grateful if someone can
suggest additional items to check, since none of those listed has proven to
be the source of the problem.

a.. Are you running a version of Windows that allows the Visual Studio
debugger to automatically attach to a Web application? If not, you need to
launch the application without debugging and manually attach to it. (For
more information, see Manually Attaching and ASP.NET Debugging: System
Requirements.)

>>>>> The student machines are running WindowsXP.

a.. Does your Web application have a Web.config file?
a.. Does the Web.config file enable debug mode) by setting the debug
attribute to true? For more information, see Debug Mode in ASP.NET
Applications.
b.. Does the Web.config file contain any syntax errors? You can check for
syntax errors by running the Web application without debugging. (From the
Debug menu, choose Start Without Debugging.) If there are syntax errors in
Web.config, detailed information will be displayed.

>>>>> App has the default Web.config file, which sets debug=true and has no
>>>>> syntax errors.

You need to be a member of the Debugger Users group or an administrator if
the ASP.NET worker process runs under your own user account.

>>>>> All students are members of the Debugger Users group

a.. You need to be a member of the Administrators group if the ASP.NET
worker process runs under any other user account besides your own.

>>>>> Making students administrators of the local machine does solve the
>>>>> problem, but opens a major security hole.

a.. Did you create the project by specifying a specific IP address
(100.20.300.400, for example)? Debugging a Web server requires NTLM
authentication. By default, IP addresses are assumed to be part of the
Internet, and NTLM authentication is not done over the Internet. To correct
this problem:
a.. When creating the project, specify the name of the machine on your
intranet.
-or-

b.. Add the IP address ([url]http://100.20.300.400[/url]) to the list of trusted
sites on your computer. (From the Internet Explorer Tools menu, choose
Internet Options, and then select the Security tab).

>>>>> No. I simply created a new ASP.NET web application in the standard
>>>>> way, dragged a Label and a TextBox onto the main form, and launched.

a.. Does the machine running IIS server have Visual Studio .NET Remote
Components installed?

>>>>> I have not confirmed this, and will not be able to verify this until
>>>>> Monday. However, I do believe Visual Studio was installed with all
>>>>> the defaults. Is this a likely source of the problem? Do the remote
>>>>> debugging facilities even come into play when running IIS locally on
>>>>> the development machine?

a.. Was IIS installed on the local machine (the machine running Visual
Studio .NET) after Visual Studio .NET was installed? IIS should be installed
before Visual Studio .NET. If it was installed afterwards, you may need to
repair the .NET Framework.

>>>>> IIS was installed prior to the installation of Visual Studio .NET