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Enable windows authentication in an ASP.NET MVC 3 website

If you have installed the ASP.NET MVC 3 Tools Update, you’ll get a new project template called Intranet Application. The main difference between internet and intranet application templates is the way how users are authenticated. Let’s have a look at the difference compared to the default (Internet) template.

Start by creating a new ASP.NET MVC 3 web application. Select the Intranet Application as template.

aspnet-mvc3-tools-update-new-project

You’ll see that the Intranet application is a practically empty web application with a home controller and Windows authentication in the web.config.  Now before you can start using the Windows authentication you’ll need to do some extra configuration:

If you are using IIS Express(recommended) then follow these steps:

  1. Right click on the project in Visual Studio and select Use IIS Express.
  2. Click on your project in the Solution Explorer to select the project.
  3. If the Properties pane is not open, make sure to open it (F4).
  4. In the Properties pane for your project:
    1. Set "Anonymous Authentication" to "Disabled".
    2. Set "Windows Authentication" to "Enabled".

Now try to run your application to see if you are correctly authenticated.

aspnet-mvc3-tools-update-win-auth

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