Share via

How to: Find Your Web Application Root

  • Article

A Web application is a core structure of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). It represents an available URL namespace (for example, http://example). The Web application root is the folder on your hard disk that corresponds to this URL namespace. For example, placing a file called "file.htm" in the Web application root folder results in an available URL at http://example/file.htm.

A site created with Windows SharePoint Services builds on top of these Web applications. In most cases, the files that show up in the namespace for a SharePoint site are stored in the database and therefore do not physically reside in the Web application root.

However, the Web application root does contain some files that are used by the SharePoint site or by Web Parts that are built with Microsoft ASP.NET, as follows:

  • The web.config file, which stores ASP.NET configuration options.

  • Any .NET Framework assemblies that have controls or parts that the SharePoint site uses, which are stored in the bin folder.

  • Any Web Part definitions (.dwp or .webpart files) that are used throughout the Web application, which are stored in the wpcatalog folder.

  • Any resources for Web Parts that are specific to the Web application, which are stored in the wpresources folder

Typically, the default Web application root for port 80 is stored at c:\inetpub\wwwroot. An installation of Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 normally would take over the default Web application; therefore, the default Web application root for a SharePoint site created with Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 was located there. An installation of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 by itself usually provisions a new Web application, most often called SharePoint (80). The physical location of this path is c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\<guid>.

Note

There usually are at least two GUID directories in VirtualDirectories: one for the Central Administration application, and one for the default content application. To find out which application is which, use the following procedure to determine the root directory of your Web application. Also note that the procedure applies to any Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 operating system that is running Microsoft Internet Information Server 6.0.

In some cases, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 also will take over the default Web application at c:\inetpub\wwwroot. In either case, you can use the following procedure to determine your Web application root.

Tip

To work with the files in your Web application, right-click the root directory of your application and select Explore. Doing so changes the right pane of IIS Manager into an Explorer window in which you can right-click files to open or edit them or view their properties.

To determine the Web application root directory

  1. Click the Start menu in the Windows desktop, click Control Panel, and double-click Administrative Tools.

  2. In the Administrative Tools window, double-click Internet Information Services.

  3. In the Internet Information Services window, expand the node that corresponds to your computer, and then expand the Web Sites node.

  4. Right-click the Web application you want to find out more about, such as SharePoint (80), and click Properties.

  5. In the Default Web Site Properties window, click the Home Directory tab. The Local Path field in this tab shows the Web application root folder.