iis express - Stop Visual Studio 2013 modifying the IISExpress applicationHost.config

Question

I have a website project using Visual Studio 2013, and each time I open it, it keeps adding a new entry for the website project in applicationHost.config. I use IISExpress for my development, however I always create a custom entry to provide some specifics and I have it configured to use port 80, so I would like to not have Visual Studio make any modifications to this file.

I have gone into Tools > Options > Web Projects and unchecked "Use the 64 bit version of IIS Express for web sites and projects", closed the solution, removed the entry from applicationHost.config and re-opened the project in Visual Studio, however it still continues to add an entry to applicationHost.config and name my website project whatever that entry is named.

Is there a way to disconnect Visual Studio entirely from IISExpress? I like using it, but I want to control that service and configuration myself.

Answer 1

Inside the bindings section of the site section, create a new binding in addition to the localhost version like so:

 <bindings>
     <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:21232:localhost" />
     <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:21232:*" />
 </bindings>

After having both lines, VS stopped making new site sections.