I just installed VirtualBox on Windows XP Pro SP3, and as part of its installation it created a new network connection called "VirtualBox Host-Only Network" with an IP address of 192.168.56.1. 

A side-effect of this is that my Web Application does not load any longer in Visual Studio 2008.  When I open the solution with this "VirtualBox Host-Only Network" enabled, the webapp fails to load with the message:

The local IIS URL http://localhost/MyWebApp specified for Web Project WebApp has not been configured.  In order to open this project the virtual directory needs to be configured.  Would you like to create the virtual directory now?

Clicking on Yes gives me an error "...Could not find the server 'http://localhost' on the local machine.  Creating a virtual directory is only supported on the local IIS server."

When I disable that new network connection, it loads fine.  However, I can't figure out how to get them both working simultaneously.  My WebApp.proj file contains this:

  <ProjectExtensions>
    <VisualStudio>
      <FlavorProperties GUID="[BIGLONGGUID]">
        <WebProjectProperties>
          <UseIIS>True</UseIIS>
          <AutoAssignPort>True</AutoAssignPort>
          <DevelopmentServerPort>2610</DevelopmentServerPort>
          <DevelopmentServerVPath>/</DevelopmentServerVPath>
          <IISUrl>http://localhost/MyWebApp</IISUrl>
          <OverrideIISAppRootUrl>True</OverrideIISAppRootUrl>
          <IISAppRootUrl>http://localhost/MyWebApp</IISAppRootUrl>
          <NTLMAuthentication>False</NTLMAuthentication>
          <SaveServerSettingsInUserFile>False</SaveServerSettingsInUserFile>
        </WebProjectProperties>
      </FlavorProperties>
    </VisualStudio>
  </ProjectExtensions>

I can navigate to http://localhost/MyWebApp with a web browser.  Any idea what might be causing the conflict with localhost?

Thanks,

-Mike

Might check www.virtualbox.org for help...

Jeff

I've posted there too; the issue seems to be that VS2008 is confused by the extra IP address, but I can't figure out why it's preventing it from loading my webapp.  The webapp is registered as "localhost" in the project file, so I would think it shouldn't make any difference what the other hostnames and ip addresses on the machine are. 

I think this is a problem with Visual Studio or IIS, but I'm really not sure.

jeff@zina.com:

Might check www.virtualbox.org for help...

Jeff

Still haven't found the cause of this, but a workaround is to turn off UseIIS in the .csproj file:

  <ProjectExtensions>
    <VisualStudio>
      <FlavorProperties GUID="{...}">
        <WebProjectProperties>
          <UseIIS>False</UseIIS>
          <!-- ... -->
      </FlavorProperties>
    </VisualStudio>
  </ProjectExtensions>