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I am creating a asp.net website and when I open it, Visual Studio asks me to create solution file every time. But I don't want the solution files at all. How can I create a website without a solution file? There are other related questions in stack overflow but they give workaround by creating the solution file. I don't want to create solution file.

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    Why do you want to not do a solution file? – mason Apr 17 '14 at 01:30
  • I don't want an additional file in my project. I open the website from IIS in Visual Studio and solution (sln) file is no use to me. Do you think having sln will give me additional benefit? I don't want to add any additional projects in the site. It's just a simple website with couple of pages. –  Apr 17 '14 at 01:32
  • The solution file isn't _hurting_ anything. You can ignore it if you want. – mason Apr 17 '14 at 01:35
  • According to this page the solution is required: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/zfzh36t7.aspx – Ben Aaronson Apr 17 '14 at 01:36
  • Perhaps your needs would be better served by right clicking on the solution file, clicking Properties, checking the Hidden attribute, and closing the Properties window. – mason Apr 17 '14 at 01:40
  • That's kind of Ostrich Algorithm you're suggesting :) But the solution file will still be there. So, does this mean it's compulsory to have a solution file for any type of project while using visual studio? –  Apr 17 '14 at 01:42
  • @mason "Although a project must reside in a solution, you can create a solution that has no projects." – Ben Aaronson Apr 17 '14 at 01:47
  • @BenAaronson Is a web site considered a project, even without a `.csproj` file? I guess so, at least for these purposes. – mason Apr 17 '14 at 01:48
  • @mason Do web sites not have `.csproj` files? I may be thinking of a different project type then – Ben Aaronson Apr 17 '14 at 01:50
  • @BenAaronson `Web Sites` do not have `.csproj` files, but `Web Applications` do. – mason Apr 17 '14 at 01:52
  • @mason Ah, I stand corrected. – Ben Aaronson Apr 17 '14 at 01:56
  • I'm still here guys ! :) –  Apr 17 '14 at 02:05
  • So does it mean there is no alternative to creating solution for website? –  Apr 17 '14 at 02:36

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If you do a New Website instead of New Project -> New Web Application, you can easily move the site's code files around. You don't need a solution file (although one will be generated in a separate location). You can ignore that solution file for the most part. I think that's as close as you can get to a "no solution" ASP.NET website.

Note that the New Website approach doesn't generate a project file (.csproj), which you may also want to get rid of if I'm following your line of reasoning correctly.

See ASP.NET Web Site or ASP.NET Web Application? for a discussion of Web Site vs Web Application.

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mason
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  • In conclusion, it seems solution file is necessary even if we create a website only as .NET uses it to manage the site as well as the projects that may be added later. Hence, it's not possible to have a website with just a list of files. There has to be a solution file or VS will attempt to create it if not present. –  May 05 '14 at 00:32