URL Rewrite HTTP to HTTPS for IIS

There seems to be a lot of information out there for URL Rewriting when it comes to using .htaccess files, but not a lot when using IIS and a web.config.

It’s a really simple task, it’s not something you do all the time, it’s a set and forget type operation. Put the snippet of code away for safe keeping for the next time you need it.

Here is what you need:

I’m going to use our own website as the example of how to redirect. Here is how we redirect any non https requests to https:

The important lines to note are between lines 6 and 10.

Looking more closely:

The Match: Match any incoming URL to our site “(.*)”

The Condition: If the HTTPS pattern is not on for the incoming URL the condition is met.

The Redirect: Redirect to requested host header {HTTP_HOST} but this time force https. Continue to pass any querystring from the original URL to the new URL {REQUEST_URL}.

Once you save the web.config – you can test your site immediately. If you have any caching turned on, don’t forget to hard refresh your browser.

Please note: You can use the GUI editor for URL Rewrite within IIS but often on remote servers, I don’t have access to that. So it’s good to know where the rewrite rules go.