Unable to start debugging on the web server. The underlying connection was closed. The connection was closed unexpectedly

Question

All of the sudden I'm getting the following error on my local web server (Win7 64bit, IIS 7.5). I've uninstalled & reinstalled IIS locally and it didn't fix it. IIS is set to start up automatically and I can see that the service has been successfully started. Upon a fresh reboot if I go into IIS and click on start website I get the following error:

The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070020

If I try to start debugging on my local website project I get the following error:

Unable to start debugging on the web server. The underlying connection was closed. The connection was closed unexpectedly.

Any ideas on what I can try? I've been doing research on the issue and Microsoft suggest making sure no other service is listening on the same ports. I've verified that this isn't the issue.

Answer 1

Try changing the web site to use a port other than 80 (suggest 8080 for example) and see it if will start. If so that's a sure sign of another service using port 80 (Skype is a common culprit for this).

Answer 2

Application pool's identity password changed? I know this is an old post, but I can't believe how many times I've been bitten by this. Some shops use integrated security for SQL, and often then on your local IIS needs your network login for the application pool. When your password expires, and you forget to change your password here, start banging your head on the wall... DOH!

Open IIS. Select Application Pools. Select the application pool used by your app. Click Advanced Settings... Select Identity, and the little "..." button to update your user/password.