Web Site Administration Tool

Question

Has anyone come up with an answer regarding the Web Site administration Tool in Expression Web? I am using Expression Web 4. I have followed some of the references in the top linked tutorials but the techniques do not work.

There are a number of different paths to Microsoft.Net directories on my machine. One is under the C:/Windows/Microsoft.Net/Framework64. This directory shows 'v2.0.50727', 'v3.0','v3.5',v4.0.30319'. Note that the directory here is 'Framework64' and not Framework. I am using a 64 bit version of windows 7.

Under the directory C;/Windows/Microsoft.Net/Framework, there are 6 foolders with names ranging from 'v1.0.3075', 'v.1.1.4322', 'v2.0.50727', 'v3.0', 'v3.5',and 'v4.0.30319'.

There does not seem to be any clear way for me to identify which version of ASP.Net is running on my machine. The version of EW4 on my machine is v4.0.1303.0 SP2. This number does not match any of the ASP.net versions.

I think that in order to follow through with the various techniques described in related posts, I need to know the correct path names.

Does anyone know how to determine what version of ASP.Net is running on their machine?

Does anyone know of a simpler and more direct way to get the Web Site Administration Tool to work on Expression Web 4?

If we bought this software with Web Site Administration functionality included, has microsoft given any commentary on why it does not work with Expression Web?

Answer 1

EW's version number would have nothing to do with an asp.net version number.

However, EW4 requires asp.net 4.  (You can write your code and use web.config's for earlier versions, of course.  Any asp.net version on your machine can run.)

I've not tried using the web admin tool in EW4 on my 64 bit machine (I use visual studio for that), but give it a try with the framework 4 path.

Adding:  Remember that EW is a 32bit application.  Doesn't matter if it's running on a 64 bit machine.

Adding more:  Just tried it.  It seems to work.

Follow this tutorial: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/46478 , changing the framework path

You'll find on your machine C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\ASP.NETWebAdminFiles  (note the change in v number from the tutorial)

Create a shortcut for: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Expression\Web 4\Expression.DevServer.exe" /port:65000 /path:"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\asp.netwebadminfiles" /vpath:"/wsat"

(Verify that's your path to Expression.DevServer.exe.)

When you click the link the dev server will launch for port:65000.

Paste your site's information, per the tutorial, into your browser.  The URL in the browser should be something like:

http://localhost:65000/wsat/default.aspx?applicationPhysicalPath=C:\Users\YourName\Documents\My Webs\MySite&applicationUrl=/MySite

That will open the Admin Tool for "MySite".