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One of our readers sent in this tip on how to get classic ASP debugging working from within Visual Studio .NET.

It took me a while to figure out how to enable debugging on a traditional ASP project with Visual Studio .NET using Windows 2000. I would always get an error saying:

"Unable to find project on the web server. Unable to set web server into correct debugging state automatically. You may not be able to debug .ASP pages."

After a lot of online research and fiddling with the settings, this is what worked for me.

To enable .asp debugging change the following settings:

1. In VS.NET:
       project - properties
           configuration properties
               debugging
                   - enable ASP debugging
                   - enable ASP.NET debugging

2. In the IIS snap-in:
       default website - properties
           home directory tab
               configuration
                   app debugging
                       - enable ASP server-side script debugging
   
       website (the project you want to debug) - properties
           directory tab
               application name: add
                   (this sets an application name for the website and changes the icon from a default folder icon to a website icon)

3. Add IIS process account to Debugger Users group:
       In Computer Management snap-in:
           System Tools
               Local Users and Groups
                   Groups
                       Debugger Users - properties
                           Add user IWAM_machine-name (the "Launch IIS process account")

Now, to debug in VS.NET:

1. Right-click the .asp page that the application should start from and select "Set as Start Page"
2. Set a breakpoint in the .asp code anywhere in the project
3. Click Debug -> Start or press F5 to build the project and start debugging

I hope this helps others avoid wasting time fiddling with all these settings...

Timm

Thanks Timm!

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