Deploying application to IIS 7 server suddenly does not work

Question

For more than a year I have been working on a project, which have deployed several times (50+). But suddenly the server only shows me the previuos version of the project!

I have tried a lot to fix it:

1. Created a new site (from now on called "shadow site") on another port - then it works, but when moving same files over to the correct folder it still shows the old version
2. Changing text in a control (.ascx file) from the project did not make the project show the updated text! But doing the same on the shadow project did make it show the new text.
3. Removing a .dll file for the .ascx file (in the bin-library) did make both projects fail (so I know I am in the right folder)
4. Having added a App_Offline.htm file did take the project offline (and again proves to me that I am in the right folder)
5. Have removed all project files and copied fresh files over - still it shows the previous version
6. Have restarted the server - still shows old version
7. Have set the Cache Control on the IIS to NOT cache .ascx and .aspx files - still shows old version

I have no idea why it continues to show me the old version of the application. Any hint/solution would be so welcome!

Answer 1

My solution to the problem was:

• Remove the bindings from the non-working web site
• Add the bindings to the shadow site
• deleting (renaming) the old folder
• Renaming the shadow site folder to the old folder name

Everything now works again! I don't know why a simple copy of the folder initially didn't work. I could have been something with the user rights (an administrator told me).