Copy an IIS7 Application Pool

Today I needed to create a .NET v4.0 version of an existing application pool. The old app pool was installed by a vendor install and uses a custom identity that gives it access to the vendor’s application. I don’t know the password to the custom identity, so I couldn’t create a new app pool from scratch.

I wondered about copying and modifying .config files, but this thread has a more elegant solution:

1. Stop the application pool you want to copy (otherwise you’ll get “copy : Object reference not set to an instance of an object”–see this StackOverflow article).
2. Start PowerShell
3. import-module webadministration
4. copy IIS:\AppPools\oldpool IIS:\AppPools\newpool –force
5. Restart the source application pool.

Voila! The new app pool is there, referencing the same identity. Change its other properties as needed, then assign your application to the new app pool.

Updated November 19, 2013 to add steps 1 and 5.