Visual Studio 2017 Enable SSL

Question

How do you enable SSL for a project in Visual Studio 2017?

In VS15, I could select Project -> Properties -> Debug -> Enable SSL. This option is not available in VS2017. Where has it moved to?

Edit:

I've even tried editing .\vs\config\applicationhost.config to no avail:

        <listenerAdapters>
            <add name="http" />
            <add name="https" />
        </listenerAdapters>

        <sites>
            <site name="WebSite1" id="1" serverAutoStart="true">
                <application path="/">
                    <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="%IIS_SITES_HOME%\WebSite1" />
                </application>
                <bindings>
                    <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation=":8080:localhost" />
                </bindings>
            </site>
            <site name="Filters" id="2">
                <application path="/" applicationPool="Clr4IntegratedAppPool">
                    <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="c:\Users\Ashley\documents\visual studio 2017\Projects\Filters\src\Filters" />
                </application>
                <bindings>
                    <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:51107:localhost" />
                    <binding protocol="https" bindingInformation="*:43107:localhost" />
                </bindings>
            </site>
            <siteDefaults>
                <logFile logFormat="W3C" directory="%IIS_USER_HOME%\Logs" />
                <traceFailedRequestsLogging directory="%IIS_USER_HOME%\TraceLogFiles" enabled="true" maxLogFileSizeKB="1024" />
            </siteDefaults>
            <applicationDefaults applicationPool="Clr4IntegratedAppPool" />
            <virtualDirectoryDefaults allowSubDirConfig="true" />
        </sites>

        <webLimits />

Edit:

Another option I've tried, which just feels clunky, and kind of defeats the point of an IDE, is to configure Kestrel to use HTTPS. This isn't ideal since I had to export a copy of a certificate for localhost from IIS, and IIS Express still tries to load the site on a different port.

public class Program
{
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var host = new WebHostBuilder()
            .UseKestrel(options =>
                options.UseHttps(new X509Certificate2("path/to/cert.pfx", "password")))
            .UseContentRoot(Directory.GetCurrentDirectory())
            .UseUrls("http://localhost:5100", "https://localhost:4300")
            .UseIISIntegration()
            .UseStartup<Startup>()
            .Build();

        host.Run();
    }
}

Sadly, this doesn't work when run from VS17. The first time around I got a 502.2 (I think) error, now all I get is an unable to connect error in Chrome. I can run dotnet run from PowerShell and it works fine.

As a workaround, it does the trick. But it doesn't seem neat.

Answer 1

For those running asp.net core 1.x in Visual Studio 2017 RC, you should be able to change the "sslPort": 0 line in the launchSettings.json file to whatever port number you would like to use for SSL. This effectively changes the bindings in the .\vs\config\applicationhost.config file mentioned in the previous answers.

Answer 2

I unfortunately had the same issue, couldn't see the "enable SSL" checkbox in the Debug tab of the Project's properties... Finally found it! --> Set the launch on "IIS Express", then you will be able to select it ;-)

Answer 3

Editing the .\vs\config\applicationhost.config actually worked for me.

<site name="Filters" id="2">
  <application path="/" applicationPool="Clr4IntegratedAppPool">
    <virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="c:\Users\Ashley\documents\visual studio 2017\Projects\Filters\src\Filters" />
  </application>
  <bindings>
    <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:51107:localhost" />
    **<binding protocol="https" bindingInformation="*:43107:localhost" />**
  </bindings>
</site>

It does however load the app up in the browser using the non-https port by default. If you manually point your browser to the 43107 port it should work.

Edit

This worked for me a few times but stopped working. Subsequent testing revealed that whenever I would click the button to start debugging in VS 2017 RC it would remove the binding I manually added.

I fixed that by making the file read-only now it's starting with HTTPS support again.