How to Host an ASP.NET Website

Publish the project to a folder first; publishing compiles the code and copies only the files needed at run time, and that folder's contents are what you upload. Uploading the raw project folder is the usual cause of exposed source files or compile errors on a first deployment.

# ASP.NET Core, framework-dependent (server already has the runtime)
dotnet publish -c Release -o ./publish

# ASP.NET Core, self-contained (runtime travels with the app)
dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -o ./publish

# .NET Framework, with a folder publish profile created in Visual Studio
msbuild MyApp.csproj /p:DeployOnBuild=true /p:PublishProfile=FolderProfile

In Visual Studio the same result comes from Build → Publish → Folder. A self-contained publish is larger but avoids depending on the host's installed runtime.

Create the database and a mapped user in Plesk, then put one connection string in web.config (Framework) or appsettings.json (Core) using the server name Plesk shows, not localhost. Test a page that runs a query before you change DNS.

<!-- web.config, .NET Framework -->
<connectionStrings>
  <add name="Default" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"
       connectionString="Server=MSSQL_HOST;Database=acct_shop;User Id=acct_user;Password=********;" />
</connectionStrings>

// appsettings.json, ASP.NET Core
"ConnectionStrings": {
  "Default": "Server=MSSQL_HOST;Database=acct_shop;User Id=acct_user;Password=********;Encrypt=True;"
}

Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 4.0 and later encrypt by default, so a server whose certificate your app does not trust fails with a certificate error. Ask the host before adding TrustServerCertificate=True, which skips that check. "Login failed for user" means the server was reached but the user, password or database mapping is wrong. Keep production credentials out of public source control.

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Move from shared to a Windows VPS when the panel reports CPU throttling, pools recycle from memory pressure, or the app needs a Windows service. The server-side walkthrough is in hosting a website on a Windows VPS. Send support@webji.services the IIS error code, .NET version and publish command if you get stuck; replies come 24/7 in Hindi and English.