Trying to test a ASP.NET website over a LAN

Question

Hi,

I have a XP Pro and Vista machine setup on a workgroup LAN, normal case with NAT router/adsl modem. Latop is wireless.

The XP Pro laptop has IIS on it and I have written an ASP.NET app.

When I try to access the app from browser on the Vista PC I get an error saying can't connect to site.

I have tried the following:

1. Can ping the XP Pro PC from Vista PC.
2. Turned on Web access from windows firewall.
3. Rebooted.
4. When I telnet to it I get http 400 bad request.

Any thing I am not doing please?

Malcolm

Answer 1

Are you debugging your project using the ASP.net development server? I believe that server does not accept external connections.

Answer 2

If you've allowed access through the firewall, I'd suggest looking at your IIS settings for the website. Is anonymous access allowed? What sort of authentication are you requiring if not? Is the website actually running in the url you're requesting?

Lots of different problems occur because of IIS settings. Play with each possible cause, one at a time, until you find out what it is the real cause, if you still can't find it, play with two at a time.

When you finally find the problem, REMEMBER it, because problems with IIS tend to be forgotten and then you have to go through everything AGAIN. Sadly, I know this from experience.