Programmatically enable (install) IIS

Question

Sometimes there is a PC that doesn't have IIS. Either it disabled or either it not installed. In this case I need to enable it myself according to those steps.

I'm trying to create application that will check if IIS is enabled (installed), and if not it will enable (install) it.

I tried to install IIS using .msi files from here, but it asking me to follow those stpes before the installation.

I tried to use Advanced Installer but apparently it installing the IIS 8.0 Express but still it keeps the IIS disabled.

What I need to do to enable IIS programmatically? It is also acceptable if I'll need to run an IIS installation file to make it done (I didn't find the right one).

Answer 1

You can install IIS via the command line. The following command will install IIS on Windows 8 (you can edit this to add/remove certain features. It's just a command I've used in the past):

PkgMgr:

start /w pkgmgr /iu:IIS-WebServerRole;IIS-WebServer;IIS-CommonHttpFeatures;IIS-StaticContent;IIS-DefaultDocument;IIS-DirectoryBrowsing;IIS-HttpErrors;IIS-ApplicationDevelopment;IIS-ISAPIExtensions;IIS-ISAPIFilter;IIS-NetFxExtensibility45;IIS-ASPNET45;IIS-NetFxExtensibility;IIS-ASPNET;IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics;IIS-HttpLogging;IIS-RequestMonitor;IIS-Security;IIS-RequestFiltering;IIS-HttpCompressionStatic;IIS-WebServerManagementTools;IIS-ManagementConsole;WAS-WindowsActivationService;WAS-ProcessModel;WAS-NetFxEnvironment;WAS-ConfigurationAPI

DISM:

START /WAIT DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:IIS-ApplicationDevelopment /FeatureName:IIS-ASP /FeatureName:IIS-ASPNET /FeatureName:IIS-BasicAuthentication /FeatureName:IIS-CGI /FeatureName:IIS-ClientCertificateMappingAuthentication /FeatureName:IIS-CommonHttpFeatures /FeatureName:IIS-CustomLogging /FeatureName:IIS-DefaultDocument /FeatureName:IIS-DigestAuthentication /FeatureName:IIS-DirectoryBrowsing /FeatureName:IIS-FTPExtensibility /FeatureName:IIS-FTPServer /FeatureName:IIS-FTPSvc /FeatureName:IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics /FeatureName:IIS-HostableWebCore /FeatureName:IIS-HttpCompressionDynamic /FeatureName:IIS-HttpCompressionStatic /FeatureName:IIS-HttpErrors /FeatureName:IIS-HttpLogging /FeatureName:IIS-HttpRedirect /FeatureName:IIS-HttpTracing /FeatureName:IIS-IIS6ManagementCompatibility /FeatureName:IIS-IISCertificateMappingAuthentication /FeatureName:IIS-IPSecurity /FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIExtensions /FeatureName:IIS-ISAPIFilter /FeatureName:IIS-LegacyScripts /FeatureName:IIS-LegacySnapIn /FeatureName:IIS-LoggingLibraries /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementConsole /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementScriptingTools /FeatureName:IIS-ManagementService /FeatureName:IIS-Metabase /FeatureName:IIS-NetFxExtensibility /FeatureName:IIS-ODBCLogging /FeatureName:IIS-Performance /FeatureName:IIS-RequestFiltering /FeatureName:IIS-RequestMonitor /FeatureName:IIS-Security /FeatureName:IIS-ServerSideIncludes /FeatureName:IIS-StaticContent /FeatureName:IIS-URLAuthorization /FeatureName:IIS-WebDAV /FeatureName:IIS-WebServer /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerManagementTools /FeatureName:IIS-WebServerRole /FeatureName:IIS-WindowsAuthentication /FeatureName:IIS-WMICompatibility /FeatureName:WAS-ConfigurationAPI /FeatureName:WAS-NetFxEnvironment /FeatureName:WAS-ProcessModel /FeatureName:WAS-WindowsActivationService

In C#, you can create a Process that executes this command like so:

string command = "the above command";
ProcessStartInfo pStartInfo = new ProcessStartInfo("cmd.exe", "/c " + command);
Process p = new Process();
p.StartInfo = pStartInfo;
p.Start();

Answer 2

You tag your question with InstallShield so I mention that later versions of InstallShield have support for enabling windows features:

Enabling Windows Roles and Features During a Suite/Advanced UI Installation

That said, I don't typically like to do this because you are really be intrusive with the configuration of the PC. I prefer to author a check that the required features are installed and block if they aren't.

Another thought is that ASP.NET 5.0 now supports self hosting as have other technologies such as WCF in the past. It might make sense to simply ditch the need for IIS and kill the problem that way.