How to enable remote connections on IIS with Windows 11?

Question

Hi, I need to set up IIS on Windows 11 for CI/CD machines. We basically have a web application on a Windows 11 that is upgraded from an external Jenkins agent via a CI job.

Even is I was able to run my Web Application under IIS manager, I struggle to deploy new changes on this machine. I investigate further and I notice two major issues:

1- I am unable to see the Management Service feature on the IIS manager, and the command Dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementService does nothing. Consequently, I am unable to enable the Enable remote connections option.

I displayed my current IIS view without any Management Service option and the page of Management Service I am missing.

2- With that broken setup, I am unable to make msdeploy tool working in order to deploy some files onto my Windows 11 machine.

This command:

msdeploy -source:contentPath='what\I\want\to\deploy' -dest:contentPath='MY-APP/myfolder',ComputerName='http://MY_IP:8172/msdeploy.axd?site=MY_APP'

is always failing with error ERROR_DESTINATION_NOT_REACHABLE even if the services wmsvc and msdepsvc are available and started. I have tested the command locally and on another host.

Consequently, it made me ask if this feature is currently available on Windows 11. It is unclear this is available or not, and I would like a confirmation that I can't do this on Windows 11 or having some clue to troubleshoot this pipeline.

Thank you.

Answer 1

The remote management/deployment feature is different if we compare Windows Server editions (starting with Windows Server 2008) and Windows client editions (Windows Vista and above).

You shouldn't use Windows 11 for CI/CD scenarios which might easily hit limitations of Windows client editions (concurrent connections limit etc.). Can you switch to something like Windows Server 2022?

Answer 2

Hello,

 

Thank you for posting in Q&A forum.

To further troubleshoot this issue, please kindly try below steps:

1.Press Win + R, type optionalfeatures and enable IIS: Expand "Internet Information Services" and check "Web Management Tools" and "IIS Management Service". Restart the OS to apply the change.

2.Open service manager and check if services wmsvc and msdepsvc are running.

3.Check if firewall or antivirus is blocking port 8172.

4.Check if SSL certificate is correctly configured.

 

I hope the information above is helpful.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let us know.

 

Best regards，

Jill Zhou

 

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