Get an ASP.net WebServer on the cheap

So you want to develop and test ASP.net web applications on a Windows XP Home machine. What do you do?

  1. Get WebMatrix [if you don’t have it already]
  2. Use WebMatrix for a bit until you despair at the crap HTML it turns out.
  3. Long for the utility of your favourite Text Editor [TextPad]
  4. Despair at having to boot up WebMatrix first just to set the WebMatrix WebServer running from the desired directory and port at the start of every session.
  5. Figure out how to improve the situation

Yes I have figured it out [pretty basic really].

  1. Find the WebServer.exe in the WebMatrix program folder
  2. Create a shortcut to the exe
  3. Add parameters for the directory and port number from which you wish to run the server
  4. Copy the Shortcut to the “Startup” folder
  5. Publish it on your personal website
  6. "C:Program FilesMicrosoft ASP.NET Web Matrixv0.5.464WebServer.exe" /port:8080 /path:"C:WebRoot" /vpath="/"