app_offline not being respected?

Question

I'm doing some tests with deploying an application using the app_offline.htm functionality in asp.net. I've found that if I have a working application, and I put an app_offline.htm file in the root, and then rename the \bin folder, my app_offline.htm file does not get displayed. If I rename the bin folder back to "bin", my app_offline.htm file gets displayed as expected. I had assumed/thought that the presence of app_offline would supersede anything else that happens...am I mistaken? This is on Windows 7/IIS 7.5.

Answer 1

It's possible that your app is being restarted/recompiled because you're messing with the bin folder. I found this blog post helpful: http://blog.kurtschindler.net/more-app_offline-htm-woes/. I also tried making app_offline.htm the first default document for the site and found that to eliminate any YSOD recompile issues.