3

Been working with ASP.NET and MVC for a few years and never seen this one before...

Just received a new machine. Created a new MVC4 Web project (for Internet, in the wizard). I'm using the project right "out of the box" to test that everything is setup and configured correctly.

If I run it from Visual Studio (2010) using the built in web server then all is fine. However, I set up an app in IIS and it's not rendering the layout (default generated code in the default location at ~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml) butI do get the Index.cshtml (~/Views/Home/Index.cshtml) content. Nothing from the layout is rendered: no html tag, no styles, no javascript, no body tag, nothing.

Did the basic diagnostics... No server errors showing up in IIS. Nothing logged as an error in the event/application log. Nothing showing up in the Chrome network inspector tool (not even 404s or 500s).

Any ideas? I'm stumped... have the feeling its something very, very simple.

Index.cshtml (default generated code except for my test code at the bottom, just to make sure the MVC dlls were picked up correctly):

<h3>We suggest the following:</h3>
<ol class="round">
    <li class="one">
        <h5>Getting Started</h5>
        ASP.NET MVC gives you a powerful, patterns-based way to build dynamic websites that
        enables a clean separation of concerns and that gives you full control over markup
        for enjoyable, agile development. ASP.NET MVC includes many features that enable
        fast, TDD-friendly development for creating sophisticated applications that use
        the latest web standards.
        <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245151">Learn more…</a>
    </li>

    <li class="two">
        <h5>Add NuGet packages and jump-start your coding</h5>
        NuGet makes it easy to install and update free libraries and tools.
        <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245153">Learn more…</a>
    </li>

    <li class="three">
        <h5>Find Web Hosting</h5>
        You can easily find a web hosting company that offers the right mix of features
        and price for your applications.
        <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245157">Learn more…</a>
    </li>
</ol>

@foreach(var i in new int[]{1,2,3,4,5})
{
    <div>Test @i.ToString()</div>
}

Rendered in Chrome:

<h3>We suggest the following:</h3>
<ol class="round">
    <li class="one">
        <h5>Getting Started</h5>
        ASP.NET MVC gives you a powerful, patterns-based way to build dynamic websites that
        enables a clean separation of concerns and that gives you full control over markup
        for enjoyable, agile development. ASP.NET MVC includes many features that enable
        fast, TDD-friendly development for creating sophisticated applications that use
        the latest web standards.
        <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245151">Learn more…</a>
    </li>

    <li class="two">
        <h5>Add NuGet packages and jump-start your coding</h5>
        NuGet makes it easy to install and update free libraries and tools.
        <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245153">Learn more…</a>
    </li>

    <li class="three">
        <h5>Find Web Hosting</h5>
        You can easily find a web hosting company that offers the right mix of features
        and price for your applications.
        <a href="http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=245157">Learn more…</a>
    </li>
</ol>

    <div>Test 1</div>
    <div>Test 2</div>
    <div>Test 3</div>
    <div>Test 4</div>
    <div>Test 5</div>
longda
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3 Answers3

6

So, here's the final solution (hangs head in shame):

First, open IIS, click on the web site, open the Authentication settings under the IIS group, click on Anonymous Authentication and click "Edit" in the right-side Actions panel. Here, take note of how anonymous auth is being executed. It could be a specific user or the app pool directory.

Either way, you'll need to make sure this account has the proper permissions in the security dialog on the directory you're serving your site from. In my case (and the default case I believe since this was a brand new box) it will be set to specific user: IUSR. As mentioned, give that user the proper perms to read/execute files and you should be good to go.

What tipped me off on this was that I was trying to load static files on the site such as css or images and I was getting 404s or redirects to login for these files (i was trying a few different solutions regarding accounts and permissions).

References:

Community
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longda
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1

Sounds like the ~\Views\_ViewStart.cshtml doesn't have the layout set correctly.

Typically its contents should look like this...

@{
    Layout = "~/Views/Shared/_Layout.cshtml";
}
Nick Albrecht
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  • Yup that's what it has. It's the default one that gets generated when you create a new project. It also works fine inside the visual studio dev web server (casini I think it's called). When I try to load it through IIS (I setup a website to host the dev files) is where the disconnect appears to be. – longda Feb 28 '13 at 00:27
  • When you say IIS, do you mean the IIS Service or IIS Express? (though it should work equally as well for either...). And I'm assuming your controller returns a view? `return View();` and not a partial? `return PartialView()` – Nick Albrecht Feb 28 '13 at 16:40
  • Hi, by IIS I mean the standard, full install of IIS, not the express version. I usually just type inetmgr at the command line and the app pops up. Double checked the controller and it is indeed returning a View(). Works perfectly in the development web server baked into Visual Studio so I'm guessing it's some sort of configuration twiddling. – longda Feb 28 '13 at 20:33
  • Thanks for your help. I figured it out and in the process learned I'm an idiot. :P – longda Feb 28 '13 at 20:49
  • Man, I was more than twelve hours battling with this. This solution fixed my problem. You saved my day and my job. Thank you very much. – eXe May 17 '17 at 11:40
  • Sometimes it's the little things that drive us the most insane. Especially after we find the solution and realise, "Really?! That was all it took!!" :-P – Nick Albrecht May 17 '17 at 22:37
1

Other possible issues can be:

  1. Build action is not correct on the _layout.cshtml file (make sure it is set to "Content" so it gets included in the webdeploy package).

  2. Build action is not correct on the _ViewStart.cshtml file (make sure it is set to "Content" so it gets included in the webdeploy package).

  3. Make sure both files are included in your project (I know it sounds silly, and it is, but it actually happened to me).

user3285545
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