Prevent iisexpress from running the websites in a solution when the startup app is a console app

Question

I have a solution with a number of projects in it. Even if I set the web project's start options to:

1. Don't open a page. Wait for a request from an external application.
2. Use custom webserver. Base URL: http://localhost.

And the startup project to:

1. Single startup project
2. Select the console application (not website)

When I press start debugging, IIS express launches (shows up on the taskbar). How do I prevent from IIS Express from launching? I am only running a console application, and don't want IIS Express running.

In fact, all of the websites in the solution launch in IIS, and they consume resources on my machine unnecessarily.

Answer 1

There's easy way to do this: in web project's properties F4 (NOT right click-> properties) set "always start when debugging" to false

Answer 2

In the Property Pages-> Start Options: Set Start Action = "Don't open a page..."; Set Server -> Use custom server and leave Base URL blank.