asp.net core app deployed on iis meets 500 internal server error

In my case, I got this because I hadn't actually installed the latest 'DotNetCore.2.0.0-WindowsHosting.exe' on the windows server I was running it on... so it was working fine on my local machine in debug and error five hundy'ing on the server.

I had other non trivial to fix issues with the upgrade also... I'd advise avoiding it if you can.

Had the same issue. Here is the guide that helped me. Note, that I did not want to install the "Runtime" on the web server, but rather deploy all the necessary files as a stand alone app. Below are the steps in a more abbreviated form:

1. On your local PC, Determine which version to publish based on your server. I was targeting Windows Server 2008, R2 which meant i needed to publish win7-x64. Open a command prompt in your project directory and run the command below:

   dotnet publish -c release -r win7-x64

   This creates a publish folder containing hundreds of dlls, an .exe, and web.config located here: bin\Release\netcoreapp2.0\publish

2. On the web server with IIS, go to this landing page. Click the link for your desired version. Find the link for the Runtime and Hosting Bundle. Click to download and run.

3. Restart IIS by running this from an elevated command prompt:

   net stop was

   net start w3svc

4. Copy all of the files in your local publish folder to your desired application folder on the IIS server.

5. On the server, Open IIS, and create a separate AppPool and Application like normal. For the AppPool, under Basic Settings, change the .NET Framework version to No Managed Code. Make sure your Application in IIS points to your desired folder and the proper AppPool.

6. Test your web application in a browser.

1. Change stdoutLogEnabled="false" to true and then check the logs at stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout". The error(s) there might tell you something.

2. Check that you set up right Environment Name using ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT environment variable as so use correct settings like connection string. On your machine by default you have "Development" environment.

3. You may use Error Handling middlewares for showing exceptions like

   app.UseDeveloperExceptionPage();