VS.NET 2005 - Where are the Binaries?

VS.NET 2003 - /bin Directory
In VS.NET 2003 when you set up a web application, an IIS virtual directory was automatically created, most commonly pointing to a file system folder in c:\inetpub\wwwroot.


When you compiled your application, a single binary, appname.dll, was created in c:\inetpub\wwwroot\appname


VS.NET 2005 - Where did the Binary go?
If you just started developing in VS.NET 2005, you may be oblivious, happily leveraging your new master pages and themes. Just wait until you try to deploy your application to another server. You'll come to find:

1. While developing, your application was running under Webdev.webserver.exe, not IIS.
2. There is no /bin directory. In fact, there is not c:\inetpub\wwwroot\appname directory.

To find your development artifacts, visit C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Temporary ASP.NET Files . The structure may confuse you -- it's more esoteric then appname/bin probably consisting of files with a .compiled extension. VS.NET 2005 has a new compilation model, a subject for another day.

To move your application into IIS:

1. Use the Build/Publish Website interface to create a "release directory".
2. Create a virtual directory that points to the release directory.
3. Make sure the virtual directory is configured to run under ASP.NET 2.0