How to Install and Configure IIS Web Server on Windows

IIS is Windows' built-in web server — included in Windows 10/11 Pro and all Server editions. Here's how to install it and configure production-ready websites.

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Install IIS

# Windows 10/11 — basic IIS
Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName "IIS-WebServerRole" -All -NoRestart

# Windows Server — full IIS with management tools
Install-WindowsFeature Web-Server -IncludeManagementTools

# Install additional features
Install-WindowsFeature `
  Web-Server, Web-Mgmt-Tools, Web-CGI,
  Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter,
  Web-Asp-Net45, Web-Net-Ext45 `
  -IncludeManagementTools

# Open IIS Manager
inetmgr

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Create a Website

# Import WebAdministration module
Import-Module WebAdministration

# Create new website
New-WebSite -Name "MyWebsite" `
  -Port 80 `
  -PhysicalPath "C:\inetpub\MyWebsite" `
  -ApplicationPool "DefaultAppPool"

# Create the web root
New-Item "C:\inetpub\MyWebsite" -ItemType Directory -Force

# Start the website
Start-WebSite -Name "MyWebsite"

# List all websites
Get-WebSite | Select-Object Name, State, PhysicalPath, Bindings

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Configure Bindings (Host Headers)

# Add host header binding
New-WebBinding -Name "MyWebsite" -Protocol "http" `
  -Port 80 -HostHeader "mysite.local"

# Add HTTPS binding
New-WebBinding -Name "MyWebsite" -Protocol "https" `
  -Port 443 -HostHeader "mysite.local"

# View bindings
Get-WebBinding -Name "MyWebsite"

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Configure Application Pool

# Create custom app pool
New-WebAppPool -Name "MyAppPool"

# Set .NET version
Set-ItemProperty "IIS:\AppPools\MyAppPool" -Name "managedRuntimeVersion" -Value "v4.0"

# Set to run as specific account
$appPool = Get-Item "IIS:\AppPools\MyAppPool"
$appPool.processModel.userName = "DOMAIN\ServiceUser"
$appPool.processModel.password = "Password"
$appPool.processModel.identityType = "SpecificUser"
$appPool | Set-Item

# Recycle app pool
Restart-WebAppPool -Name "MyAppPool"

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Configure SSL Certificate

# Self-signed certificate for testing
$cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate `
  -DnsName "mysite.local" `
  -CertStoreLocation "cert:\LocalMachine\My" `
  -NotAfter (Get-Date).AddYears(2)

# Bind certificate to HTTPS site
$binding = Get-WebBinding -Name "MyWebsite" -Protocol "https"
$binding.AddSslCertificate($cert.Thumbprint, "My")

# For production: import certificate from file
$pfx = Import-PfxCertificate `
  -FilePath "C:\Certs\mysite.pfx" `
  -CertStoreLocation "cert:\LocalMachine\My" `
  -Password (ConvertTo-SecureString "PfxPassword" -AsPlainText -Force)

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Configure Authentication

# Enable Windows Authentication
Set-WebConfigurationProperty -Filter "system.webServer/security/authentication/windowsAuthentication" `
  -PSPath "IIS:\Sites\MyWebsite" -Name "enabled" -Value $true

# Disable Anonymous Authentication
Set-WebConfigurationProperty -Filter "system.webServer/security/authentication/anonymousAuthentication" `
  -PSPath "IIS:\Sites\MyWebsite" -Name "enabled" -Value $false

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View and Manage IIS Logs

# View recent IIS access log
$logPath = "C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\W3SVC1"
Get-ChildItem $logPath | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 1 |
  ForEach-Object { Get-Content $_.FullName -Tail 20 }

# Parse logs for 500 errors
Get-Content "$logPath\*.log" | Where-Object {$_ -match " 500 "}

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Summary

Install via Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature or Install-WindowsFeature. Create sites with New-WebSite. Configure app pools with New-WebAppPool. Bind SSL certs to HTTPS bindings. Manage via inetmgr GUI or PowerShell WebAdministration module.

Frequently Asked Questions

IIS vs Apache vs nginx — when to choose IIS?

IIS when: Windows Server, ASP.NET apps, Active Directory integration, Windows Authentication. Apache/nginx when: Linux server, PHP apps, or cross-platform. IIS is deeply integrated with Windows and handles .NET apps natively.

How do I redirect HTTP to HTTPS in IIS?

# Via URL Rewrite module (download from microsoft.com)
# Or via web.config:
# <rule name="HTTPS Redirect">
#   <conditions><add input="{HTTPS}" pattern="^OFF$"/></conditions>
#   <action type="Redirect" url="https://{HTTP_HOST}{REQUEST_URI}"/>
# </rule>

Application pool keeps crashing — how to troubleshoot?

Check: 1) Event Viewer → Windows Logs → Application for error details, 2) IIS logs at C:\inetpub\logs\, 3) Failed Request Tracing in IIS Manager, 4) Application pool identity has permissions on the website folder.