Freshness update: publish-to-iis

[Copilot]

publish-to-iis.md was last updated in October 2019 and was missing modern .NET deployment guidance. This update brings the article current with supported .NET versions and modern IIS hosting practices.

Metadata

• ms.date: 10/03/2019 → 02/23/2026
• monikerRange: >= aspnetcore-2.1 → >= aspnetcore-8.0
• Added ai-usage: ai-assisted

Content additions

• Intro: Replaced single-sentence intro with context on when/why to choose IIS (Windows Server, Windows Auth, IIS feature integration)
• In-process hosting: Added note that in-process hosting (w3wp.exe) is the default since ASP.NET Core 3.0 and links to the IIS overview
• Deployment models: Added framework-dependent vs. self-contained guidance; recommends framework-dependent for most IIS scenarios
• web.config: Added note that it's auto-generated on publish and required by the ASP.NET Core Module — don't remove it
• VS publish workflow: Updated dialog/button names to match current Visual Studio UI ("Pick a publish target" → "Publish" dialog; "Folder or File Share" → "Folder location")
• {TARGET FRAMEWORK} placeholder: Added inline explanation (where {TARGET FRAMEWORK} is the target framework moniker, for example net10.0) in both VS and CLI tabs

Cleanup

• Removed duplicate xrefs (aspnet-core-module, directory-structure, troubleshoot-azure-iis) from "Deployment resources for IIS administrators" — they already appear under "Articles in the ASP.NET Core documentation set"

Original prompt

---

This section details on the original issue you should resolve

<issue_title>Freshness Update: publish-to-iis</issue_title>
<issue_description>Contributes to #36100

Description

AI Freshness Article Review Report: Publish an ASP.NET Core app to IIS

Run by: WadePickett

File: aspnetcore/tutorials/publish-to-iis.md
Repository: dotnet/AspNetCore.Docs
Reviewed by: GitHub Copilot
Review Date: 02/23/2026
Article UID: tutorials/publish-to-iis
Source: publish-to-iis.md on GitHub

---

Executive Summary

The article "Publish an ASP.NET Core app to IIS" is significantly outdated. The ms.date metadata is 10/03/2019 — over 6 years old — and the content has not been substantially revised to reflect modern .NET practices or current tooling. The current latest stable version of .NET is .NET 10 (LTS), yet the article's moniker range starts at aspnetcore-2.1 and the content does not reference any modern .NET version. Several metadata, formatting, and content issues were identified against the repository's Copilot instructions and the Microsoft Writing Style Guide.

Overall Verdict: ⚠️ Needs Updating

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1. Metadata Issues

Issue	Current Value	Expected Value	Severity
ms.date is extremely outdated	10/03/2019	Should be updated to current date (02/23/2026) upon next content revision
Metadata ordering	title, author, description, monikerRange, ms.author, ms.custom, ms.date, uid	✅ Correct — already in required order (title first, then alphabetical)	✅ Good, already correct as is.
Missing ai-usage metadata	Not present	Should be added as ai-usage: ai-assisted if AI assistance is used during any update	ℹ️ Info

---

2. Content Freshness Issues

2.1 Outdated .NET Version References

Issue	Details	Severity
The Hosting Bundle download link	Uses the dotnetcore-current-windows-runtime-bundle-installer permalink which auto-resolves — this is still valid.	✅ Good

2.2 Missing Modern Deployment Guidance

Issue	Details	Severity
No mention of in-process hosting model	The in-process hosting model (default since ASP.NET Core 3.0) is not discussed. This is the recommended hosting model for IIS.	🟡 Medium
No mention of web.config	For IIS hosting, the web.config file is critical. The article does not mention it at all.	🟡 Medium
No mention of self-contained vs framework-dependent deployments	Modern .NET supports both deployment modes, which affect what's needed on the server.	🟡 Medium
Visual Studio publish experience outdated	The "Pick a publish target" dialog UI description may not match current Visual Studio versions. The current VS publish workflow uses a different wizard flow.	🟡 Medium
No mention of dotnet publish -o output path option	The modern dotnet publish command commonly uses -o to specify the output directory.	🟢 Low

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3. Formatting & Style Issues (per Copilot Instructions)

3.1 Bullet List Markers

Issue	Details	Severity
Uses * for unordered lists in Prerequisites	The Prerequisites section uses * which is correct per the repo guidelines ("use an asterisk as the bullet marker").	✅ Good
Warning block uses single bullet items	In the WARNING block, the third bullet item ("To focus on IIS deployment concepts...") is a standalone item at the same level, which is acceptable in this context.	✅ Good

3.2 Ordered List Numbering

Issue	Details	Severity
Ordered lists use 1. for every item	All ordered lists correctly use 1. rather than sequential numbers (1., 2., 3.).	✅ Good

3.3 Introductory Paragraph

Issue	Details	Severity
Introductory paragraph is too brief	Per content writing guidelines, the intro should "explain why and when the topic matters in practical ASP.NET Core development scenarios" and "give a concise summary of what the article covers." The current intro is just: "This tutorial shows how to host an ASP.NET Core app on an IIS server."	🟡 Medium

3.4 Placeholder Formatting

Issue	Details	Severity
{TARGET FRAMEWORK} placeholder usage	Used in line 94: bin/Release/{TARGET FRAMEWORK}/publish — this follows the correct {PLACEHOLDER NAME} format with uppercase letters.	✅ Good
Missing placeholder explanation	The {TARGET FRAMEWORK} placeholder is not explained with a statement like "where the {TARGET FRAMEWORK} placeholder is..." per copilot instructions.	🟢 Low

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4. Links & Cross-Refere...

• Fixes Freshness Update: publish-to-iis #36788

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💡 You can make Copilot smarter by setting up custom instructions, customizing its development environment and configuring Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. Learn more Copilot coding agent tips in the docs.

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Internal previews

📄 File	🔗 Preview link
aspnetcore/tutorials/publish-to-iis.md	aspnetcore/tutorials/publish-to-iis

[wadepickett]

Reviewed, added commits to improve.
Approved.

[meaghanlewis]

These changes LGTM.