Create a WCF Web Service

The following instructions were taken, mostly, from Eric White's blog on MSDN.

The point of this post is to offer a simply no frills guide to getting a WCF web service created and working.

1. There is is some setup that needs to be done before the first WCF service can be created, I'll skip these steps here. For further information check Eric White's blog.

2. Create a folder that will host the web service, e.g. c:\myWebService

3. Open Visual Studio 2010 (or 2008).

4. Click File --> New --> Project.

5. Select the WCF Template category, and WCF Service Application.

6. Set the target .NET Framework.

7. Un-tick "Create directory for solution".

8. Name the project.

9. Choose the location that was created in step 2.

10. Debug through Visual Studio to confirm that the Web Service is working.

11. Open Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

12. Create an application pointing to the new Web Service.

13. Change the Authentication so that "Anonymous Authentication", "ASP.NET Impersonation", and "Windows Authentication" are Enabled.

14. Confirm that the application pool user has rights to the WCF folder.

15. Add the .svc file to the Default Document list.

16. Browse to confirm that the service is working through IIS.