Sitefinity 4.0 Beta Create New Project Error - FrontPageRPCE

When I try to create a new project using the Sitefinity 4.0 Beta Project Manager, I get the following error:

FrontPageRPCException: Could not retrieve the server extension version.

I am running Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit) with IIS 7.5 and attempted to create a new project using HTTP on an empty IIS Web site running in an ASP.NET 2.0 application pool.

The problem is that IIS 7.5 does not support Front Page Extensions. To create the website directly on your IIS choose Create New Project, when you are asked for the location click the Browse button and select IIS and choose your empty website. When the website is created make sure that you disable the WebDAV module as described in this KB article: Receiving "405.0 - Method Not Allowed" in Sitefinity 4.0 CTP.

Kind of an ugly error.  I just got the same thing and searched the "FrontPageRPCException" before opening a new forum post.  I hope this gets fixed because it is an unnecessary wart on a very clean looking product.

This takes several steps to work around.  This is what I did to workaround on Windows 7, 32bit, IIS 7.5, SQL 2008, VS2010, Sitefinity v4, beta2.  Not sure if this is all kosher.  Any feedback is appreciated:

1.  Create the folder (assuming you want it in wwwroot) c:\inetpub\wwwroot\mynewsite
2.  Change permissions so that "IIS_IUSRS" has "Full control" to the folder via Windows Explorer.
3.  Via IIS Manager, go to Sites-->Default Web Site, rt-click "Add Application", type an alias name, e.g., "mynewsite", and then in the "Physical Path" field, enter your folder path "c:\inetpub\wwwroot\mynewsite".

4.  NOW you can go into Sitefinity, click "Create New Project", and in the popup window, for "Location", select "HTTP", click the "Browse" button, and find your new "mynewsite" within your IIS instance.  Click thru the dialogues and it should build ok.

Larry Brindise

Hi Larry Brindise @ The Phil,

Thank you for joining the conversation.

The problem is caused by IIS 7.5 not supporting FrontPageExtensions. The method for creating a website on http is intended so that you create it on a remote location, where FrontPageExtensions are supported. For local II you can click the Browse button and select IIS from the pop-up screen and choose a virtual directory/website on which you want to create the Sitefinity project.

Regards,
Radoslav Georgiev
the Telerik team

Not sure if I am just not understanding something, or if something truly is missing.  Please consider these suggestions for improvements to the 4.0 beta.
1.  To follow your directions, "For local II you can click the Browse button and select IIS from the pop-up screen and choose a virtual directory/website on which you want to create the Sitefinity project",
One must first create the virtual directory, which are in the steps I outlined previously.   At least that's what I beleive.  Am I missing something here?  I am wondering if Sitefinity could detect that the desired URL for the new site is on the "localhost", and use a different script that would perform similar steps without invoking FrontPage extensions.  Additionally, will Sitefinity only be able to create sites on older IIS servers that do support Frontpage?
2.  If the Sitefinity Project Manager detects that Frontpage is not supported on the remote server, it should terminate gracefully. 

Thanks

Hi Larry Brindise @ The Phil,

Thank you for getting back to me.

Your suggestions are completely valid and we have already logged those as features to improve in the project manager. The PM on the other hand has the ability to let you create a virtual directory on your IIS (without having to open IIS Manager and create it there). There is currently a bug with this feature, however it will be resolved.

Kind regards,
Radoslav Georgiev
the Telerik team

keep up the good work!