How to Add A New Web Site in IIS Manually

In this article, Greencloud will guide you through adding a website to IIS. IIS is a web server platform developed by Microsoft and integrated into most Windows operating systems, especially Windows Server. This tutorial shows how to add a new site to IIS without WebsitePanel manually.

1. First, VPS needs to have IIS installed

How to install IIS in Windows Server

2. Create a Folder for the New Website Files

Step 1: Create a Folder for All the Websites in the Server

If there is no folder for all web files in the server, create a folder named “Websites”.

Step 2: Create a New Folder in the “Websites” Folder (The folder name is based on the domain name)

Step 3: Create wwwroot and log folders

Click into the domain folder to create wwwroot and log folders

3. How to Open IIS Management

Step 1: Click the Server Manager

Step 2: Click the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager in Tools

Step 3: A Screenshot of The IIS Management Interface

4. Add Dedicated Application Pools

It is better to create a dedicated application pool before creating a website.

Step 1: Right-click “Application Pools”

Step 2: Type the domain in “Name”

5. Add a New Website from the IIS Management

Step 1: Right-click the Site and Click “Add Website…”

Step 2: Type the Site Name, Select the Website Files, and Select the IP Address

• Type the domain name in “Site name”
• Select your site’s files path by clicking “Physical path”
• Select the server IP address in “IP address”. It is better to select “All Unassigned”
• Type the Binding in “Host name”

The Website is Created

6. Add the Site Binding

There should be two hosting headers in “Site Binding”. They are “Greencloudtest.com” and “www.Greencloudtest.com.” You can add any other headers if they are the domain’s alias.

7. Update Local Host File to Test the Website

Click the correct path and edit the hosts file to add the domain host (IP “Table” domain)

8. Test the Site

• Create the File Named Default.aspx Under the Folder “wwwroot”

• Test the site in a browser.

You may encounter the error “HTTP Error 403.14 – Forbidden” when opening the site on your browser.

You can fix the error by opening the IIS Manager, selecting your website, and then double-clicking the Directory Browsing option under IIS in Feature view.

Click Enable in the Actions pane on the right.

Now, reopen your site in your browser and check again.

Done!

Conclusion

In this article, we learned how to add a website to Windows IIS. Using this article’s step-by-step guide, you can start hosting a fully functional website on a Windows server. Later, if you would like to consider configuring an advanced configuration for a website, you can do it anytime.

Good Luck!