I recently used Web Platform Installer to install Web Deploy 3 on IIS 8 so I could remotely develop a PHP site in WebMatrix. After installing and setting up a publishing profile in WebMatrix, a quick test showed a 404 returned by IIS error when attempting to connect with Web Deploy. I confirmed that the IIS Web Management Service (WMSvc) was started and configured properly. I also confirm proper IIS Manager permissions for the user I was using to connect with Web Deploy. WMSvc tracing showed IIS was returning a 404 error code when attempting to access https://servername:8172/MsDeploy.axd – the Web Deploy handler in IIS. After much troubleshooting, I stumbled across a stackoverflow post that described the fix. Even though I had installed Web Deploy via the Web Platform Installer, it appears it didn’t actual install the Web Deploy Handler. To resolve this, I manually ran the MSI installer for Web Deploy and selected the appropriate components. After a restart of WMSvc, I was able to successfully connect to IIS from WebMatrix via Web Deploy.

The Web Deploy Windows Installer can be downloaded here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd569059(v=ws.10).aspx