Visual Studio 2013 C# WCF web service _vti_bin/ListData.svc/$metadata

Question

The context is the following:

Create a WCF service: framework .NET 4.0

• Deploy it under IIS 7
• The web service contains
• references to libraries that retrieve set of data
• the WCF makes use of methods within arrays
• I need to disable "Anonymous Authentication" and enable "Windows Authentication"
• I consume the service as a Web Service (I don't want to use the file generated by the svcutil)
• The endpoint of the webservice is "mywebpoint/mywcf_web_service.svc"

When I developed the solution with Visual Studio 2010 it was all OK and all working as expected.

I rebuild the solution with Visual Studio 2013 and now it's not working anymore as referencing the webservice it's asking for credentials on:

• "mywebpoint/mywcf_web_service.svc/_vti_bin/ListData.svc" and
• "mywebpoint/mywcf_web_service.svc/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/$metadata"

Made check the DNS and the proxy authentications... nothing wrong with it

Here the Web.Config:

---

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>

  <system.web>
    <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0" />
    <authentication mode="Windows" />
    <pages controlRenderingCompatibilityVersion="3.5" clientIDMode="AutoID" />

    <webServices>
      <protocols>
        <add name="HttpGet" />
        <add name="HttpPost" />
        <add name="HttpSoap12" />
        <add name="HttpSoap" />
      </protocols>
    </webServices>

    <customErrors mode="RemoteOnly" defaultRedirect="mycustompage.htm" />
  </system.web>

  <system.serviceModel>

    <bindings>
      <basicHttpBinding>
        <binding name="myBasicHttpBinding" bypassProxyOnLocal="true">
          <security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">
          <!--<security mode="Transport">-->
            <transport clientCredentialType="Windows" />
          </security>
        </binding>
      </basicHttpBinding>
    </bindings>

    <services>
      <service name="WCF_MyWebService.Service" behaviorConfiguration="WCF_MyWebService.ServiceBehaviour">
        <endpoint address="" binding="basicHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="myBasicHttpBinding" name="BasicHttpEndpoint" contract="WCF_MyWebService.IService" >
          <identity>
            <dns value="" />
          </identity>
        </endpoint>
        <endpoint contract="IMetadataExchange" binding="mexHttpBinding" address="mex" /> ??? I didn't need this with Visula Studio 2010!!!
      </service>
    </services>

    <behaviors>
      <serviceBehaviors>
        <behavior name="WCF_MyWebService.ServiceBehaviour">
          <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" />
          <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" />
        </behavior>
      </serviceBehaviors>
    </behaviors>

    <serviceHostingEnvironment multipleSiteBindingsEnabled="true" />

  </system.serviceModel>

  <system.webServer>
    <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true" />
    <!--
        To browse web app root directory during debugging, set the value below to true.
        Set to false before deployment to avoid disclosing web app folder information.
      -->
    <directoryBrowse enabled="true" />

  </system.webServer>



</configuration>

---

And here the error I get on the webpage wen I try to open the url on the IIS server:

---

Security settings for this service require 'Anonymous' Authentication but it is not enabled for the IIS application that hosts this service. 
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code. 

Exception Details: System.NotSupportedException: Security settings for this service require 'Anonymous' Authentication but it is not enabled for the IIS application that hosts this service.

Source Error: 

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.  

Stack Trace: 


[NotSupportedException: Security settings for this service require 'Anonymous' Authentication but it is not enabled for the IIS application that hosts this service.]
   System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedAspNetEnvironment.ValidateHttpSettings(String virtualPath, Boolean isMetadataListener, Boolean usingDefaultSpnList, AuthenticationSchemes& supportedSchemes, ExtendedProtectionPolicy& extendedProtectionPolicy, String& realm) +198236
   System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpChannelListener.ApplyHostedContext(String virtualPath, Boolean isMetadataListener) +104
   System.ServiceModel.Channels.HttpTransportBindingElement.BuildChannelListener(BindingContext context) +156
   System.ServiceModel.Channels.Binding.BuildChannelListener(Uri listenUriBaseAddress, String listenUriRelativeAddress, ListenUriMode listenUriMode, BindingParameterCollection parameters) +166
   System.ServiceModel.Description.DispatcherBuilder.MaybeCreateListener(Boolean actuallyCreate, Type[] supportedChannels, Binding binding, BindingParameterCollection parameters, Uri listenUriBaseAddress, String listenUriRelativeAddress, ListenUriMode listenUriMode, ServiceThrottle throttle, IChannelListener& result, Boolean supportContextSession) +393
   System.ServiceModel.Description.DispatcherBuilder.BuildChannelListener(StuffPerListenUriInfo stuff, ServiceHostBase serviceHost, Uri listenUri, ListenUriMode listenUriMode, Boolean supportContextSession, IChannelListener& result) +583
   System.ServiceModel.Description.DispatcherBuilder.InitializeServiceHost(ServiceDescription description, ServiceHostBase serviceHost) +2020
   System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostBase.InitializeRuntime() +82
   System.ServiceModel.ServiceHostBase.OnOpen(TimeSpan timeout) +64
   System.ServiceModel.Channels.CommunicationObject.Open(TimeSpan timeout) +789
   System.ServiceModel.HostingManager.ActivateService(String normalizedVirtualPath) +255
   System.ServiceModel.HostingManager.EnsureServiceAvailable(String normalizedVirtualPath) +1172

[ServiceActivationException: The service '/WCF_Excelnet_CoreSvc/WCF_Excelnet_Core.svc' cannot be activated due to an exception during compilation.  The exception message is: Security settings for this service require 'Anonymous' Authentication but it is not enabled for the IIS application that hosts this service..]
   System.Runtime.AsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult result) +901424
   System.ServiceModel.Activation.HostedHttpRequestAsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult result) +178638
   System.Web.AsyncEventExecutionStep.OnAsyncEventCompletion(IAsyncResult ar) +107

---

This is so frustrating and disappointing...

If I clean up well the Web.confing and I resotre the Anonymous Authentication it's all good though.

There must be something fishy consuming the webservice, but I'm running out of options...

Answer 1

Based on this:

I need to disable "Anonymous Authentication" and enable "Windows Authentication"

In the <system.web> section of your config file, add this below <authentication mode="Windows"> :

<system.web>
  <authentication mode="Windows" />
  <authorization>
    <allow users="*" />
  </authorization>
  <pages />
  <identity impersonate="false" />
</system.web>

Now, down in the <system.webServer> section, add this <security> node:

<system.webServer>
    <security>
        <authentication>
            <anonymousAuthentication enabled="false" />
        </authentication>
    </security>
</system.webServer>

It may not work for you, but for me this just solved a week's worth of headaches.

Answer 2

Well at last I solved the problem... but you're not going to like it. Basically the same solution runs well only under IIS 8.0. This means that you have to install Win Server 2012 etc etc... Also, do not forget to set in the properties the "Windows Authenticated" = Enabled.

This is the only way I managed to make it working... sorry.

Answer 3

I got the same problem ( ../_vti_bin/ListData.svc/$metadata asking for credentials) when converting a projet from VS2010 to VS2013. My problem came from clientCredentialType set to "Ntlm" instead of "Windows".