How to get ngrok working with IISExpress/Visual Studio 2013

ngrok-with-IISExpress.md

1. Decide on a subdomain to use with ngrok. This makes the whole process easier.
2. Open up a Command Prompt in Administrator mode and run the following command to register the URL with HTTP.sys replacing "modernie" with your subdomain and ##### with your VisualStudio/IISExpress application's port.

netsh add urlacl url=http://modernie.ngrok.com:##### user=everyone

3. Edit your applicationhost.config. The easiest way to is start up the site and right-click the IISExpress icon in the System Tray. Click "Show All Applications" and select your website running at localhost:#####. Click the path next to "Config" to open the file in an editor.
4. Search for you site's <bindings> configuration. The easiest way is to search for *:#####:localhost, which should bring you to the <bindings> section for your site. Edit them to include the following:

<bindings>
  <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:#####:modernie.ngrok.com" />
  <binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:#####:localhost" />
</bindings>

Save the file, making sure to replace "modernie" with your subdomain and ##### with your application's VisualStudio/IISExpress port.

5. Restart your site.
6. Run ngrok with the subdomain settings from a Command Prompt running in Administrator mode. This can be done with the following command:

ngrok.exe -authtoken XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX -subdomain=modernie #####

Make sure to replace "modernie" with your subdomain and ##### with your application's VisualStudio/IISExpress port.

@nsbingham would you mind if I included these instructions as part of ngrok's official documentation?

@inconshreveable glad you find it helpful! Feel free to include in ngrok's official documentation. ngrok is a great tool!

Should the first command line snippet be like this? (i.e. Missing 'http' after 'netsh' and trailing slash after port number)

netsh http add urlacl url=http://modernie.ngrok.com:#####/ user=everyone

Dan's command is what works in Windows 8.1

I'm trying to get this to work with a site name that's not "localhost", but using port 80. My binding info line is:

<binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:80:whatever.local.com" />

whatever.local.com is correctly added to the etc/hosts file and it the local site is viewable at whatever.local.com. I've tried running ngrok like so:

ngrok http whatever.local.com:80

But when I go to the url ngrok provides, I get a 404 error (and the tunnel clearly works). When I add the following to applicationHosts.config file:

<binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:80:urlfromngrok.ngrok.io" />

and restart the server, there is no change; I still get the 404.

I have also added the url with netsh as above. No dice.

I have no idea how to proceed, as I'm not sure where the issue lies. Clearly something is being served, it's just not the right something. If anyone has any insight, I would be very grateful. Ngrok is so blissfully easy to use on Mac/*nix, but IIS just makes me want to huck my machine out my 5th story window.

Okay I have a solution to the above. Ngrok needs to be invoked thusly:

ngrok http -host-header=rewrite whatever.local.com:80

I also allowed external traffic to the hostname (but this may have been incidental to the solution):

netsh http add urlacl url=http://whatever.local.com:80/ user=everyone

No messing with the ApplicationHost.config file was necessary.

has anyone been able to get ngrok working with IIS express over https?

Is there any way to do this without being able to set a subdomain? I am trying the free version and cannot set a subdomain so restarting in step 5 changes my url.

@hawaiikaos

This worked for me - thanks

ngrok http -host-header=rewrite whatever.local.com:80

This is much easier now with just this single command:

ngrok http -subdomain=modernie -host-header="localhost:#####" #####

No need to run netsh or edit the IIS Express config file.

@dprothero you are a lifesaver! I've been struggling this for a really long time and glad you posted a working solution. When I first started using ngrok a few years back I had an equally tough time getting up and running with IIS Express and ended up using the following which no longer works:

ngrok http 192.168.0.x:xxxx -subdomain=mysubdomain

@ProNotion and everyone, I built a Visual Studio extension to make this easier. Please let me know what you think:
https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/56a642ed-a5e0-4044-8735-740d36912c5e

@moranm6 did you ever solve this? I also need this solution so I can convince "management" to pay for this tool.

@dprothero It works a treat - thanks so much for taking the time and for sharing. I'm still curious - why I can't get it work from the command line myself anymore but thanks for a great extension!

Tried dprothero's command above, as well as the extension. Tried netsh and editing applicationhost.config. In every case, what I get when I try to visit the ngrok url is:

a) in my ngrok client, I see the request come in - so it is getting to my machine
b) the request takes quite a while - ballpark 2 minutes?
c) eventually comes back 502

seemingly same as this StackOverflow article

Anyone else running into this with VS2017?

@tscbp The latest version of ngrok resolves the issue see inconshreveable/ngrok#448 and my answer at the SO article you mentioned: VS 2017 IIExpress ngrok SO Article