How to change the Home Directory for a domain in IIS

This article provides detailed instructions for changing the Home Directory of a domain in IIS.

When a domain is created in the HELM Control Panel, it is given a default Home Directory folder where the web files will need to be placed. Typically, this is 'C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\domain.com\wwwroot'. However, through Internet Information Services (IIS), it can be changed to point at a separate directory.

Let's change the 'example.com' domain to point to a different sub-folder within the domain.

As you can see, the 'wwwroot' folder has a few sub-folders within it. Let's change the Home Directory for the domain to point to the 'dev' folder.

First, open IIS by navigating to 'Start --> Administrative Tools --> Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager'.

Once IIS is open, right-click the server name, and expand the 'Web Sites' folder, so it displays all sites hosted on the server. Locate the domain you wish to change the Home Directory for, right-click on it and choose 'Properties'.

Click on the 'Home Directory' tab within the Properties window.

Next to the 'Local path' field which contains the current home directory, click on the 'Browse' button.

Expand the 'wwwroot' folder, and select the sub-folder within it you wish for the domain to default to. Let's choose the 'dev' folder. Once highlighted, click OK.

You can now see that the path has been updated. This can also be typed in without browsing to the folder, if you are sure of exactly where the files are located. Once it is set, click OK.

The Home Directory is now updated, and all content for the root of the domain will be pulled from the updated directory.

There are a few things to keep in mind when updating the Home Directory:

• The new directory will need a Default page specified.
• Files in the default 'wwwroot' folder will no longer be displayed when browsing to the domain.
• If you are updating the Home Directory to a folder outside of the folder structure created by HELM, the new folder will need the appropriate permissions assigned to it so it is accessible by the Anonymous Web User account on the server.

If you have any questions regarding updating a domain's Home Directory, please don't hesitate to contact our Technical Support Department, and they will be more than happy to assist you.