Move SharePoint Web Application’s IIS Physical Path to a New Location
Requirement: Move SharePoint web application’s IIS physical location from system drive (c:\) to application drive (d:\) due to new server support policies!
Solution:
SharePoint web applications, by default placed under: “C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories” when we create them. There is no UI/direct way to change the physical location of SharePoint IIS web sites later. However, these three steps can be utilized to move the SharePoint web application’s IIS physical directory to a new location:
- Copy all contents from the current virtual directory to new directory
- Change IIS website’s physical path
- Update SharePoint web application to point to the new directory path.
Let’s automate these manual steps with PowerShell.
PowerShell Script to Move IIS Website to New Physical Location:
Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
#Import IIS Module
Import-Module WebAdministration
#Variables
$WebAppURL="https://intranet.crescent.com/"
$NewPath="D:\IIS\VirtualDirectories\Intranet.Crescent.com"
$IISSiteName = "Crescent Intranet"
#Get Web Applications' IIS Settings
$WebApp = Get-SPWebApplication $WebAppURL
$IISSettings = $WebApp.IisSettings[[Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPUrlZone]::Default]
$OldPath = $IISSettings.Path
#Check if destination folder exists already. If not, create the folder
if (!(Test-Path -path $NewPath))
{
$DestFolder = New-Item $NewPath -type directory
}
#***** Step 1 - Copy Current Virutal Directory to new location **** #
Copy-Item -Path $OldPath\* -Destination $NewPath -Force -Recurse
#***** Step 2 - Change IIS Web Site's Physical path ******
Set-ItemProperty "IIS:\Sites\$($IISSiteName)" -name PhysicalPath -value $NewPath
#***** Step 3 - Update SharePoint Web Application ******
#Change the Web App path
$IISSettings.Path = $NewPath
#Update Web Application
$WebApp.Update()
Please note, You’ll have to repeat steps 1 and 2 in all SharePoint web front-end servers.
An absolute life saver when moving Central Admin off the system drive. Works like a champ.