asp.net - IISConfigurator.exe crashes when running Azure app in the Dev Fabric

Question

If I attempt to run a new or existing azure app, IISConfigurator crashes and I receive a notification that roles are taking longer than expected to start. I'm running in VS2012 on Windows 8, using IIS Express 8 (and the azure project settings specify to use IIS Express).

I've looked at a similar question here, but the poster seems to be having a different problem based on their log file.

The following is from the IISConfiguratorLogs file, and seems to indicate that the WAS service is freezing up:

IISConfigurator Information: 0 : [00008536:00000001, 2013/03/20 16:54:20.352] Started iisconfigurator with args /start
IISConfigurator Information: 0 : [00008536:00000001, 2013/03/20 16:54:20.362] StartForeground selected. Check if an instance is already running
IISConfigurator Information: 0 : [00008536:00000001, 2013/03/20 16:54:20.388] Starting service WAS
IISConfigurator Information: 0 : [00008536:00000001, 2013/03/20 16:54:50.716] Timeout exception System.ServiceProcess.TimeoutException: Time out has expired and the operation has not been completed.
at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus desiredStatus, TimeSpan timeout)
at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.IISConfigurator.WebServiceManager.StartService(String name)
IISConfigurator Information: 0 : [00008536:00000001, 2013/03/20 16:54:50.718] Starting service w3svc
IISConfigurator Information: 0 : [00008536:00000001, 2013/03/20 16:54:51.809] Unhandled exception: IsTerminating 'True', Message 'System.InvalidOperationException: Cannot start service w3svc on computer '.'. ---> System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The dependency service or group failed to start
--- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.Start(String[] args)
at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.IISConfigurator.WebServiceManager.StartService(String name)
at System.Linq.Enumerable.WhereSelectListIterator`2.MoveNext()
at System.Linq.Enumerable.Aggregate[TSource](IEnumerable`1 source, Func`3 func)
at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.IISConfigurator.WebServiceManager.StartServices()
at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.IISConfigurator.IISConfigurator.Initialize()
at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.IISConfigurator.WCFServiceHost.Open()
at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.IISConfigurator.Program.StartForgroundProcess()
at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.IISConfigurator.Program.DoActions(String[] args)
at Microsoft.WindowsAzure.ServiceRuntime.IISConfigurator.Program.Main(String[] args)'

I would appreciate any advice on what my next step should be. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You have something corrupted on your machine with IIS and it really doesn't have anything to do with Azure. If you try to manually start W3SVC or WAS service you should see a similar failure. It could be one of the config file (machine.config, applicationhost.config, etc) or something else such as a filesystem problem.

Check out http://www.hanselman.com/blog/FixedWindowsProcessActivationServiceWASIsStoppingBecauseItEncounteredAnError.aspx for some troubleshooting techniques and possible solution.