Setup 64-bit Windows Server for Running ASP.NET 1.1 and ASP.NET 2.0 at the Same Time

Introduction

There are many .NET Web applications built on ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0, which run on the Windows server at the same time. The special case is in the Web site Main: there are some ASP.NET 1.1 projects built into the site: Proj1.1, etc. and some ASP.NET 2.0 projects are added to it: Proj2.0, etc.

• Main (1.1)
• Proj1.1 (1.1)
• Proj2.0 (2.0)

On a 32-bit Windows server, we can setup 1.1 or 2.0 Web applications by “ASP.NET Tab” in Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. On a 64-bit (x64) Windows server, there are some issues related to running ASP.NET 1.1 and ASP.NET 2.0 at the same time, for example, ASP.NET tab is missing. This article describes some issues and their solutions.

If running ASP.NET 1.1 and ASP.NET 2.0 on the same X64 server at the same time, we must run IIS in 32-bit mode [1]. 64-bit server doesn't allow us to install ASP.NET 2.0 of 32-bit mode, which means we need to install ASP.NET 1.1 of 32-bit mode and ASP.NET 2.0 of 64-bit mode. After installing them, we need to enable the 32-bit mode on X64.

1. Install IIS on Windows Server 2003 R2 x64
   Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs | Add/Remove Windows Components | Add the component “Application Server”
   
   

   It prompts for convlog.exe. You can find it in \WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\amd64.

   

   It prompts for iisback.vbs. You can select IISBACK.VB_ in c:\amd64.

   
2. Download and install the 32-bit .NET 1.1 and 64-bit .NET 2.0 packages.

   The packages can be found in:

   1. Microsoft .NET Framework Version 1.1 Redistributable Package
   2. The .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package x64 (64 Bit)

3. Enable ASP.NET 1.1 and ASP.NET 2.0:

   1. Enable the 32-bit mode on x64 Windows server
      cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 1
   2. Install the version of ASP.NET 1.1 and the script maps at the IIS root and under
      %SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspnet_regiis.exe –i
   3. Install the version of ASP.NET 2.0 (32-bit) and the script maps at the IIS root and under
      %SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe –i

   After installing ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0, you will find them in IIS Manager | Web Service Extension. Then enable the following services: Active Server Pages, ASP.NET v1.1.4322, ASP.NET v2.0.50727 (32-bit), Internet Data Connector, and Service Side Includes.

   
4. Setup ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0 applications

   After creating the virtual directories for Main etc. and different Application Pools for ASP.NET 1.1 and 2.0, you will find the ASP.NET tab missing in IIS Manager. Microsoft does not fix “Missing ASP.NET tabs on Windows x64 Servers”. But there is a workaround [2]. In our case, configure Main using ASP.NET 1.1 version, which also applies to Proj1.1: %SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspnet_regiis.exe -s W3SVC/1/ROOT/Main.

   Then, configure Proj2.0 to use ASP.NET 2.0 versions: %SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -s W3SVC/1/ROOT/Main/Proj2.0.

References

1. How to switch between the 32-bit versions of ASP.NET 1.1 and the 64-bit version of ASP.NET 2.0 on a 64-bit version of Windows
2. ASP.NET Tab is missing in the IIS MMC in the Web server running Windows XP Pro x64 Edition with .NET Framework 2.0 (WOW64)