Change the Physical Path of Application Content (IIS 7)

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

When you move the location of an application's content in the file system, you must also update the physical path in IIS to make sure that users can continue to access the application on the Internet.

Prerequisites

For information about the levels at which you can perform this procedure, and the modules, handlers, and permissions that are required to perform this procedure, see Applications Feature Requirements (IIS 7).

Exceptions to feature requirements

  • Only server administrators can add and edit applications.

To change the physical path of application content

You can perform this procedure by using the user interface (UI), by running Appcmd.exe commands in a command-line window, by editing configuration files directly, or by writing WMI scripts.

User Interface

To use the UI

  1. Open IIS Manager. For information about opening IIS Manager, see Open IIS Manager (IIS 7).

  2. In the Connections pane, expand the Sites node and click to select the site in which your application runs.

  3. In the Actions pane, click View Applications.

  4. On the Applications feature page, select an application from the list and then click Basic Settings in the Actions pane.

  5. In the Physical path box, change the path of the application content.

  6. Click OK.

Command Line

To change the path of an application's content, use the following syntax:

**appcmd set app /app.name:**string **/[path='/'].physicalPath:**string

The variable app.namestring is the virtual path of the application, and physicalPathstring is the physical path of the application's content.

For example, to change the physical path of the location c:\application for an application named marketing in a site named contoso, type the following at the command prompt, and then press ENTER:

appcmd set app /app.name:contoso/marketing /[path='/'].physicalPath:c:\application

For more information about Appcmd.exe, see Appcmd.exe (IIS 7).

Configuration

The procedure in this topic affects the following configuration elements:

<virtualDirectory> element under <application>

For more information about IISĀ 7 configuration, see IIS 7.0: IIS Settings Schema on MSDN.

WMI

Use the following WMI classes, methods, or properties to perform this procedure:

  • ApplicationContainsVirtualDirectory class

  • VirtualDirectory.PhysicalPath property

For more information about WMI and IIS, see Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) in IIS 7. For more information about the classes, methods, or properties associated with this procedure, see the IIS WMI Provider Reference on the MSDN site.

See Also

Concepts

Managing Applications in IIS 7