Command-line Tools Included in IIS

IIS administrators often need to configure multiple IIS servers or make frequent changes to IIS configurations. IIS application developers might also need to configure an IIS server to test an application and then restore the previous configuration after they are done. IIS provides command-line tools to make these tasks faster than using IIS Manager or writing custom administration scripts.

Usage

For detailed instructions about using the IIS command-line tools, see Using Command-Line Administration Scripts in the IIS User Documentation.

To display the usage of a VBScript tool

  • Type the following text in a command window and press ENTER:

    Cscript.exe /nologo <tool_name>.vbs /?

    The only exception is AdsUtil.vbs, which does not need the /? to display its usage.

To display the usage of an executable tool

  • Type the following text in a command window and press ENTER:

    <tool_name>.exe /?

Available Tools

IIS command-line tools are listed in the following table with the versions of IIS that they are included with.

Tool name

Description

IIS versions

%SystemDrive%\Inetpub\AdminScripts\AdsUtil.vbs

AdsUtil.vbs is a popular tool because it is the most versatile, and it can be used on so many versions of IIS.

AdsUtil.vbs uses ADSI to set, delete, create, and enumerate properties, find paths, and control the IIS server. One helpful parameter is ENUM_ALL, which enumerates the entire IIS configuration.

AdsUtil.vbs cannot display properties of types IPSec, Binary, or NTAcl.

AdsUtil.vbs does not display secure properties such as passwords.

IIS 4.0

IIS 5.0

IIS 5.1

IIS 6.0

%SystemDrive%\Inetpub\AdminScripts\ChAccess.vbs

ChAccess.vbs is used to set access permissions at metabase nodes. These access permissions include the AccessRead, AccessWrite, AccessScript, and AccessExecute flags of the AccessFlags property, and the EnableDirBrowsing flag of the DirBrowseFlags property.

IIS 5.1

%SystemDrive%\Inetpub\AdminScripts\SyncIwam.vbs

SyncIwam.vbs is used to update the launching identity of all IIS COM+ application packages that run out of process.

There are certain operations that may cause the IWAM account, which is the identity under which out of process IIS applications run, to become out of sync between the COM+ data store and IIS or the SAM. On IIS startup the account information stored in the IIS Metabase is synchronized with the local SAM, but the COM+ applications will not automatically be updated. The result of this is that requests to out of process applications will fail.

For more information, open SyncIwam.vbs in Notepad to view the comments.

IIS 5.1

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\IISReset.exe

IISReset.exe is used to safely start, stop, enable, and disable the IIS services. Always use the /NOFORCE option when stopping or rebooting an IIS server.

IIS 5.1

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\ConvLog.exe

ConvLog.exe is used to convert log files to NCSA format. It can also replace IP addresses with Domain Name System (DNS) names during conversion, or it can be used to replace IP addresses with DNS names inside an NCSA Common log file. You can also use ConvLog.exe to convert time offsets.

IIS 5.1

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\IIsApp.vbs

IIsApp.vbs is used to list worker processes. Given an application pool identifier, it an report all of the process identifiers (PIDs) currently running w3wp.exe processes.

IIS must be running in worker process isolation mode.

This tool uses WMI. It cannot be used to configure a remote IIS server.

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\IIsBack.vbs

IIsBack.vbs is used to backup the metabase, restore the metabase, delete backups, or list all existing backup files.

This tool uses WMI. It can be run remotely on any machine that supports WMI, but it must be passed the name of a server running IIS 6.0 or later.

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\IIsCnfg.vbs

IIsCnfg.vbs is used to import, export, copy, or save the IIS metabase configuration information, in whole or in part.

This tool uses WMI. It can be run remotely on any machine that supports WMI, but it must be passed the name of a server running IIS 6.0 or later.

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\IIsExt.vbs

IIsExt.vbs is used to manages Web service extensions. When IIS is installed, only HTML Web content is allowed to be served. ASP, ASP.NET, CGI, and ISAPI applications must be enabled.

This tool uses WMI. It can be run remotely on any machine that supports WMI, but it must be passed the name of a server running IIS 6.0 or later.

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\IIsFtp.vbs

IIsFtp.vbs is used to stop, start, pause, delete, or query the FTP service, or create an FTP site.

This tool uses WMI. It can be run remotely on any machine that supports WMI, but it must be passed the name of a server running IIS 6.0 or later.

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\IIsFtpdr.vbs

IIsFtpdr.vbs is used to create, delete, or query and FTP virtual directory or directory.

This tool uses WMI. It can be run remotely on any machine that supports WMI, but it must be passed the name of a server running IIS 6.0 or later.

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\IIsVdir.vbs

IIsVdir.vbs is used to create, delete, or query and Web virtual directory or directory.

This tool uses WMI. It can be run remotely on any machine that supports WMI, but it must be passed the name of a server running IIS 6.0 or later.

IIS 6.0

%SystemRoot%\System32\IIsWeb.vbs

IIsWeb.vbs is used to stop, start, pause, delete, or query the Web service, or create a Web site.

This tool uses WMI. It can be run remotely on any machine that supports WMI, but it must be passed the name of a server running IIS 6.0 or later.

IIS 6.0