Run a Sitefinity CMS instance as parent or child of an ASP.NET application

In IIS you can add virtual directories. In IIS context, such a directory is a subfolder, but it does not physically exist in the parent website. It is useful for sharing resources, such as CSS, JavaScript, Images, Videos, etc. across multiple websites.

Using this configuration inheritance can generate a problem that occurs when you host an ASP.NET application in the root folder and add a subdirectory with another ASP.NET application. This way, all settings that are set above your subdirectory application are applied to your child application as well, which may cause it to malfunction.

In Sitefinity CMS context, it is not sufficient to use <location inheritInChildApplications=”false”> - you must also add the <clear> and <remove> tags in the web.config file of the child application. Use the following example:

The rest of the web.config nodes are inherited from the parent Sitefinity CMS site, therefore, in the child application we need to include or exclude all additional or unnecessary config elements.