Authentication issue when debugging in VS2013 - iis express

Question

I m trying to pick up the windows username when debugging in Visual Studio 2013  I am simply using   httpcontext current user identity name   If I run this on my Dev Server it works fine  if I run it in debug mode on any previous version of Visual Studio it also works fine   My problems is - If i run this on visual studio 2013 I get an empty string   My web config is as follows    lt system web gt       lt authentication mode  Windows   gt       lt identity impersonate  false   gt       lt authorization gt          lt allow users      gt       lt  authorization gt       lt compilation debug  true  strict  false  explicit  true  targetFramework  4 0   gt       lt customErrors mode  Off   gt   lt  system web gt

User · Answer

It appears that the right answer is provided by user3149240 above. However, As Neil Watson pointed out, the applicationhost.config file is at play here.

The changes can actually be made in the VS Property pane or in the file albeit in a different spot. Near the bottom of the applicationhost.config file is a set of location elements. Each app for IIS Express seems to have one of these. Changing the settings in the UI updates this section of the file. So, you can either change the settings through the UI or modify this file.

Here is an example with anonymous auth off and Windows auth on:

<location path="MyApp">
    <system.webServer>
        <security>
            <authentication>
                <windowsAuthentication enabled="true" />
                <anonymousAuthentication enabled="false" />
            </authentication>
        </security>
    </system.webServer>
</location>

This is equivalent in the VS UI to:

Anonymous Authentication: Disabled
Windows Authentication: Enabled

User · Answer

VS 2015 changes this   It added a  vs folder to my web project and the applicationhost config was in there   I made the changes suggested  window authentication   true  anon false  and it started delivering a username instead of a blank

User · Answer

Open up the applicationHost config file located in the C  Users userid  Documents IISExpress config folder   Inside this file change the overrideModeDefault of anonymousAthentication and windowsAuthentication to  Allow     lt sectionGroup name  security  gt                   lt section name  access  overrideModeDefault  Deny    gt                   lt section name  applicationDependencies  overrideModeDefault  Deny    gt                   lt sectionGroup name  authentication  gt                       lt section name  anonymousAuthentication  overrideModeDefault  Allow    gt                       lt section name  basicAuthentication  overrideModeDefault  Deny    gt                       lt section name  clientCertificateMappingAuthentication  overrideModeDefault  Deny    gt                       lt section name  digestAuthentication  overrideModeDefault  Deny    gt                       lt section name  iisClientCertificateMappingAuthentication  overrideModeDefault  Deny    gt                       lt section name  windowsAuthentication  overrideModeDefault  Allow    gt                   lt  sectionGroup gt    Next change lockItem  to be  false  for AnonymousAuthenticationModule and WindowsAuthenticationModule     lt system webServer gt               lt modules gt                   lt  --                  lt add name  HttpCacheModule  lockItem  true    gt  -- gt                   lt add name  DynamicCompressionModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  StaticCompressionModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  DefaultDocumentModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  DirectoryListingModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  IsapiFilterModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  ProtocolSupportModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  HttpRedirectionModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  ServerSideIncludeModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  StaticFileModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  AnonymousAuthenticationModule  lockItem  false    gt                   lt add name  CertificateMappingAuthenticationModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  UrlAuthorizationModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  BasicAuthenticationModule  lockItem  true    gt                   lt add name  WindowsAuthenticationModule  lockItem  false    gt    Making these changes will allow the existing web config settings to override what is in the applicationHost file for IIS Express

User · Answer

I had just upgraded to VS 2013 from VS 2012 and the current user identity  HttpContext User Identity  was coming through as anonymous   I tried changing the IIS express applicationhost config  no difference   The solution was to look at the properties of the web project  hit F4 to get the project properties when you have the top level of the project selected  Do not right click on the project and select properties  this is something entirely different   Change Anonymous Authentication to be Disabled and Windows Authentication to be Enabled   Works like gravy

User · Answer

You could also modify the project properties for your web project  choose  Web  from left tabs  then change the Servers drop down to  Local IIS    Create a new virtual directory and use IIS manager to setup your site app pool as desired   I prefer this method  as you would typically have a local IIS v-directory  or site  to test locally   You won t affect any other sites this way either

User · Answer

F4 doesn t always bring me to this panel  Besides  it is often said that a picture is worth a thousand words

User · Answer

As I was researching this I found my answer  but can t find the answer on the internet  so I thought I d share this   I fixed my issue by modifying my applicationhost config file  My file was saved in the   My Documents IISExpress config  folder   It seems that VS2013 was ignoring my web config file and applying different authentication methods   I had to modify this portion of the file to look like the below  In truth  I only modified the anonymousAuthentication to be false and the windowsAuthentication mode to true    lt authentication gt      lt anonymousAuthentication enabled  false  userName      gt      lt basicAuthentication enabled  false    gt      lt clientCertificateMappingAuthentication enabled  false    gt      lt digestAuthentication enabled  false    gt      lt iisClientCertificateMappingAuthentication enabled  false  gt     lt  iisClientCertificateMappingAuthentication gt      lt windowsAuthentication enabled  true  gt       lt providers gt         lt add value  Negotiate    gt         lt add value  NTLM    gt       lt  providers gt     lt  windowsAuthentication gt    lt  authentication gt

User · Answer

In VS2013 F4 on your project to view properties window and disable Anonymous access and enable  Windows authentication    Then it will work  No need to change anything else

User · Answer

In Visual Studio 2013 AND VS15  but i guess if the same for all other version  just  press F4 and change this two properties  -Anonymous Authentication  Disable -Windows Authentication  Enable

[web-config] Authentication issue when debugging in VS2013 - iis express

Examples related to web-config

Examples related to windows-authentication

Examples related to iis-express

Examples related to visual-studio-2013