DEV Community: Senad Meškin

Local IIS and IIS Express Can't Run Localhost After Windows Update 2025-10

Senad Meškin — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 18:39:37 +0000

If your localhost stopped working after the recent Windows update, there is an easy fix, though it might involve some complications if you're unlucky.

If you attempt to open a localhost site hosted on local IIS or one started from Visual Studio using IIS Express, and the page reports an "ERR_CONNECTION_RESET" error, you likely have a problem related to the latest Windows update.

The Simple Solution

The simple solution is to uninstall the problematic updates using the following commands in an elevated Command Prompt or PowerShell:

wusa /uninstall /kb:5066835
wusa /uninstall /kb:5065789

After running these commands, restart your computer, and your localhost should work again.

Troubleshooting (The Complication)

If you encounter an error like: "installer encountered an error: 0x8000825", you will need to first disable "Windows Sandbox" (in Turn Windows features on or off) and then try the uninstall commands again.

Powershell GUID Generator

Senad Meškin — Tue, 10 May 2022 19:56:18 +0000

I've built a simple GUID generator that generates GUID and puts it into the clipboard!

You can download the file from my repository: guid.ps1

You can read more info at the Git Hub Page

Details

In PowerShell you can generate GUIDby typing [Guid]::NewGuid() into your PS terminal, but then you would need to copy it from the terminal and paste it where you need it. It was complex for me so I've built a script that does all the for you.

$guid = [guid]::NewGuid().ToString();

Set-Clipboard -Value $guid;

Write-Host 'Guid:' $guid 'copied to the clipboard!';

In use

E:\ps> guid
Guid: d5bae5bc-d0dc-47ef-bbf7-1323f7a2180e copied to the clipboard!
E:\ps>

NOTE: Just be sure to put the guid.ps1 file somewhere where your path is defined so you can access it from anywhere.

Floating Labels inside HTML form using only CSS and HTML

Senad Meškin — Sun, 24 Apr 2022 17:00:20 +0000

Have you ever wondered how they create those floating label forms? If you did then this is the blog post for you.
I'm going to show you how to create it using simple HTML and CSS.

If you like video more, then you can watch it on my YouTube channel -> Floating Labels in HTML form

We are gonna start with an empty index.html file:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Floating Labels</title>
</head>
<body>    
</body>
</html>

Now, I'm gonna add form with one field and one label in it:

<form>
    <h3>Floating Labels</h3>
    <div>
        <input type="text" id="firstName" />
        <label for="firstName">First Name</label>
    </div>
</form>

To make this work we need to add a label after the input field because that is the only way we can select it when the status of the field changes (e.g. focus, placeholder-shown).

Preview of our form:

Now, we are going to style a container of the field and that is the div inside the form. First, I will create a new file called floatingLabels.css and link it to our index.html file

floatingLabels.css

* {
    /*box-sizing will tell browser how to measure 
      width of an element and in our case
      it will be from border to border.
    */
    box-sizing: border-box;
}
body, html {
    margin:0px; /*reseting default margin to 0*/
    padding: 0px; /*reseting default padding to 0*/
}
form {
    padding: 20px; 
}

To link it into our index.html we need to add link into our HTML file header:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="floatingLabels.css" />

Now, we are gonna style the container by adding a height, border, and border-radius:

form > div {
    height: 40px;
    border: 1px solid gray;
    border-radius: 5px;    
}

> selector will apply CSS only to the direct descendent of the FORM element.

Next, We will add some style to our input field

form > div > input {
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    padding-top: 20px;
    padding-left: 10px;
}

Preview of our form

To move our label over the field we need to make its position absolute and style it to our needs:

form > div > input + label {
    position: absolute;
    height: 100%;
    line-height: 40px;
    width: 100%;
    left: 10px;
    top: 0px;    
    transition: 0.15ms; /*to make smooth any style transtion*/
    pointer-events: none; /*disable the pointer events*/
}

At this moment I've changed the font of the page to be Tahoma, If you want to do the same add to your body selector font-family: Tahoma;

We need to update the position of the container to relative to avoid our label floating beyond the border of the container.

form > div {
    height: 40px;
    border: 1px solid gray;
    border-radius: 5px;    

    /*new code */
    min-width: 400px; /*just for nicer look*/
    position: relative;
   /*end of new code*/
}

Preview of our form

Now, once the field is focused we need to move our label up, change its font color to blue and make it bold.

form > div > input:focus + label  {
    font-weight: bold;
    font-size: 12px;
    line-height: 14px;
    color: blue;    
}

Preview of our form

The next thing we need to do is to keep our label above the field when there is text in it, otherwise, the text of our label and text from the input will overlap:

To do so we will use selector :placeholder-shown of the input field to style the label that comes after it. But because we need our label to stay at the top only when the placeholder is not visible we will use CSS function to negate :placeholder-shown result

form > div > input:not(:placeholder-shown) + label  {
    font-weight: bold;
    font-size: 12px;
    line-height: 14px;
    color: blue;    
}

Once we are out of the field, and there is text inside it, our label will stay at the top of the field:

And that is basically it, all we need to do now is to add placeholder to our field which will have a value of one space placeholder=" ", remove outline of the field, border of the field, make div's overflowing content hidden to make our form look even nicer.

Final preview

Index.html

 <!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Floating Labels</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="floatingLabels.css" />
</head>
<style>
    .container {
        display: flex;
        justify-content: center;
    }
</style>

<body>
    <div class="container">
        <form>
            <h3>Floating Labels</h3>
            <div>
                <input placeholder=" " type="text" id="firstName" name="firstName" autocomplete="off" />
                <label for="firstName">First Name</label>
            </div>
            <div>
                <input placeholder=" " type="text" id="lastName" name="lastName" autocomplete="off" />
                <label for="lastName">Last Name</label>
            </div>
            <div>
                <input placeholder=" " type="text" id="city" name="city" autocomplete="off" />
                <label for="city">City</label>
            </div>
        </form>
    </div>
</body>

</html>

floatingLabels.css

* {
    /*box-sizing will tell browser how to measure 
      width of an element and in our case
      it will be from border to border.
    */
    box-sizing: border-box;
}
body, html {
    margin:0px; /*reseting default margin to 0*/
    padding: 0px; /*reseting default padding to 0*/
    font-family: Tahoma;
}

form {
    padding: 20px;     
}

form > div {
    height: 40px;
    border: 1px solid gray;
    border-radius: 5px;    
    min-width: 400px;
    position: relative;
    overflow: hidden;
    margin-bottom: 20px;
}
form > div:focus {
    outline: 0px;
}

form > div > input {
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
    padding-top: 15px;
    padding-left: 10px;
    border: 0px;
}

form > div > input + label {
    position: absolute;
    height: 100%;
    line-height: 40px;
    width: 100%;
    left: 10px;
    top: 0px;  
    transition: 0.15ms;  
    pointer-events: none;
}
form > div > input:focus + label,
form > div > input:not(:placeholder-shown) + label   {
    font-weight: bold;
    font-size: 12px;
    line-height: 14px;
    color: blue;    
}

How to create a list of suggestions for your HTML Input field

Senad Meškin — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 20:02:02 +0000

If you want to have a predefined list of suggestions for your input field by using just simple HTML then <datalist> HTML element is for you.

We will create a list of cities that will be offered as a suggestion for our input field. To create a list we will use the HTML element <datalist> that will have a list of items and id which will be used as a reference to our list.



<datalist id="listOfCities">
        <option value="Bugojno"></option>
        <option value="New York"></option>
        <option value="London"></option>
        <option value="Peking"></option>
</datalist>

Now, we will create an input field and connect it to our list with list attribute.



<input type="text" id="city" list="listOfCities" />

Now when we start typing in our input field suggestions will be loaded.

CODEPEN

Redirect www to non www via web.config on IIS web app

Senad Meškin — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 16:13:46 +0000

All you need to do is to add a rule into the rewrite module section:

<rule name="Force non-WWW" enabled="true" stopProcessing="true">
    <match url="(.*)" />
    <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny">
        <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^(www\.)(.*)$" />
    </conditions>
    <action type="Redirect" url="https://{C:2}{REQUEST_URI}" appendQueryString="true" redirectType="Permanent" />
</rule>

Your rewrite section should look like this:

<rewrite>
    <rules>
        <rule name="Force non-WWW" enabled="true" stopProcessing="true">
            <match url="(.*)" />
            <conditions logicalGrouping="MatchAny">
                <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^(www\.)(.*)$" />
            </conditions>
            <action type="Redirect" url="https://{C:2}{REQUEST_URI}" appendQueryString="true" redirectType="Permanent" />
        </rule>
    </rules>
</rewrite>

Cisco VPN Connection error fix

Senad Meškin — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 13:42:38 +0000

If you ever experience an error "AnyConnect was not able to establish a connection to the specified secure gateway. Please try connecting again." you can easily fix it by stopping the Windows service called "Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)".

Steps:

On your keyboard press Win Key + R to start Run dialog
Type services.msc into it and press Enter or button OK
In opened service window find Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) then right-click on it, select Stop and that is it.

NOTE
Do not worry, service will start on-demand, you will break nothing.

C# Authorization attribute and how to override it

Senad Meškin — Tue, 22 Mar 2022 14:26:36 +0000

Disabling or enabling certain actions or endpoints in your controllers/API is relatively easy to do in ASP.NET, all you need is to add Authorize attribute to a Controller or Action with the desired roles and you are done.

[Authorize] // Only authenticated users will be able to access this controller
public class MyController : BaseController {
  [AllowAnonymous] //anyone can access this action, controller [Authorize] attribute is ignored
  public ActionResult AnyoneCanAccessIt(){
     //...code
  }
  [Authorize(Roles="Admin,QA")]
  public ActionResult Only_Role_Admin_and_QA_Can_Access_This(){
    //...code
  }
  public ActionResult All_Authenticated_Users_Can_Access_This_Action(){
   //...code
  }
}

...and that is it

Recently I had to disable access to a certain functionality for everybody so I just put Authorizationattribute with an unexisting role at the controller and the problem was solved, at least I thought so.

[Authorize(Roles="Not allowed")]
/* access to this controller is restricted to all users without this role. 
We don't have this role in our system so no one can access it.
*/
public class MyController : BaseController {
   //.. bunch of actions
}

But I forgot that there is only one method that needs to stay accessible to all authorized customers. One solution was to remove Authorize attributes from the controller and then disable access to each action individually by applying Authorizeattribute to each of them. That was a lot of work so I needed to find a different solution!
The best solution for this kind of problem is OverrideAuthorization attribute which removes any previously set Authorize logic and starts from the beginning.

All I needed to do is Add OverrideAuthorizationattribute to the action I want to be accessible, and then below it set Authorize attribute again.

[Authorize(Roles="Not allowed")]
/* access to this controller is restricted to all users without this role. 
We don't have this role in our system so no one can access it.
*/
public class MyController : BaseController {
   //.. bunch of actions

  [OverrideAuthorization] // overrides authorization filters defined at a higher level
  [Authorize] // will make this action only accessible to authenticated users
  public ActionResult My_Action_That_Needs_Access_Afterall(){
    //... code
  }
}

ASP.NET Core - IIS Set environment in web.config

Senad Meškin — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 21:37:44 +0000

In order to set a Environment variable for the IIS hosted app via web.config we need to add <EnvironmentVariables> element inside the <aspNetCore> element.

<environmentVariables>
    <environmentVariable name="ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT" value="Development" />
</environmentVariables>

Example of your config should look like this:

 <aspNetCore processPath="dotnet" arguments=".\YourApp.dll" 
                        stdoutLogEnabled="false" 
                        stdoutLogFile=".\logs\stdout" 
                        hostingModel="inprocess">
    <environmentVariables>
        <environmentVariable name="ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT" value="Development" />
    </environmentVariables>

</aspNetCore>

Powershell script that downloads .gitignore template by name

Senad Meškin — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 19:49:09 +0000

There is a Github project, if you didn't know about it already, that contains common .gitignore template files for different platforms, IDE-s, Frameworks, Languages, etc.

To get the file by yourself you can:

Clone project than copy files that you need
Copy contents of the file and create it locally
Or use a PowerShell script to download it into the active folder

Download script from repository https://github.com/senad-meskin/powerscripts or you can copy the contents of the file directly from https://raw.githubusercontent.com/senad-meskin/powerscripts/master/git-ignore.ps1 and save it locally inside the folder that is added to your Environment PATH.

To download a template from the repository https://github.com/github/gitignore just call the script and pass template name as the first parameter (Case sensitive)

git-ignore VisualStudio

where VisualStudio is a template name without .gitignore extension from Gitignore repository