IIS: Where can I find the IIS logs?

Question

I'm trying to set up an application from a third party, which requires a supporting website hosted in my local IIS. I've created a website exactly as explained in their install guide, but am having some problems, and would like to see what the IIS log has to say. Embarrassingly enough, the problem is I can't find the log files!

So my question is: Where does IIS7 store logs by default?

Answer 1

I think the default place for access logs is

%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\LogFiles

Otherwise, check under IIS Manager, select the computer on the left pane, and in the middle pane, go under "Logging" in the IIS area. There you will se the default location for all sites (this is however overridable on all sites)

You could also look into

%SystemDrive%\Windows\System32\LogFiles\HTTPERR

Which will contain similar log files that only represents errors.

Answer 2

I believe this is an easier way of knowing where your IIS logs are, rather than just assuming a default location:

Go to your IIS site, e.g. Default, click on it, and you should see "Logging" to the right if logging is enabled:

Open it and you should see the folder right there:

You are welcome!

Answer 3

I'm adding this answer because after researching the web, I ended up at this answer but still didn't know which subfolder of the IIS logs folder to look in.

If your server has multiple websites, you will need to know the IIS ID for the site. An easy way to get this in IIS is to simply click on the Sites folder in the left panel. The ID for each site is shown in the right panel.

Once you know the ID, let's call it n, the corresponding logs are in the W3SVCn subfolder of the IIS logs folder. So, if your website ID is 4, say, and the IIS logs are in the default location, then the logs are in this folder:

%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\W3SVC4

Acknowlegements:

• Answer by @jishi tells where the logs are by default.
• Answer by @Rafid explains how to find actual location (maybe not default).
• Answer by @Bergius gives a programmatic way to find the log folder location for a specific website, taking ID into account, without using IIS.

Answer 4

The 100% correct answer for the default location of the log files is...

%SystemDrive%\inetpub\logs\LogFiles

Yes you can enter this into the explorer address bar it'll work.

To be 100% sure, you need to look at the logging for the web site in IIS.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/get-started/whats-new-in-iis-85/enhanced-logging-for-iis85

i.e.

1. Open IIS Manager.
2. Select the site or server in the Connections pane,
3. Double-click Logging.
4. The location of log files for the site can be found within the Directory field

EDIT: As pointed out by Andy in the comments below you need to ensure when installing IIS that you elected to enable HTTP logging, otherwise HTTP logging won't be available.

Answer 5

A much easier way to do this is using PowerShell, like so:

Get-Website yoursite | % { Join-Path ($_.logFile.Directory -replace '%SystemDrive%', $env:SystemDrive) "W3SVC$($_.id)" }

or simply

Get-Website yoursite | % { $_.logFile.Directory, $_.id }

if you just need the info for yourself and don't mind parsing the result in your brain :).

For bonus points, append | ii to the first command to open in Explorer, or | gci to list the contents of the folder.

Answer 6

Try the Windows event log, there can be some useful information

Answer 7

Enabling Tracing may be a better alternative to the Windows Event Log. This gave me the information I needed to fix my own WebService.

Answer 8

I think the Default place for IIS logging is: c:\inetpub\wwwroot\log\w3svc

Answer 9

I have found the IIS Log files at the following location.

C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\

which help to fix my issue.

Answer 10

C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles

Check the identity of the site going to sites and advanced settings