How to update WordPress installed on IIS?

I have WordPress installs in my IIS localhost server on Win7 desktop done manually and with WebPI install.Both installs are under IIS default website.

Either asks for FTP credentials when I try to auto update to the latest WP version.
I have FTP server enabled on IIS (users IUSR and Richard).

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I have checked that read write permissions are enabled on the wordpress root & wp-content folders.
I try putting in the credential values but keep getting no response or

ERROR: There was an error connecting to the server, Please verify the settings are correct.

Credentials asked for are Hostname/FTP user/FTP password and I have tried all manner of credentials I think might be correct but obviously are not.
(eg ftp://localhost– IUSR -site password etc etc).
I am most unsure about the FTP password.

I have asked for help with this on WordPress forum, WordPress codex, IIS7 forum, googled & tweeted for help to fix this and found no answer! There are several threads about the issue but most say the fix is to enable read write folder permissions and there is something about using web.config file and also editing wp-config.php. I do not really want to edit wp-config.php.
What I really want is to enter the correct ftp credentials for WordPress on IIS and have it work and autoupdate to the latest version.

Does anyone know what ftp credentials I have to use to get this done please?
Has any WordPress IIS localhost user experienced this and dealt successfully with this ftp autoupdate?

Edit 10/10/12 >>
Hi mauri- many thanks for your very helpful reply. I followed your instruction on my WordPress blog that MS WebPlatformInstaller(WPI) installed for me and (ta da!) it worked as you said-ie it autoupdated to the latest WP version without asking for the ftp credentials. My only issue is I’m not sure what this is or what I really did apart from following your instruction! I would like to understand all this ‘jiggery-pokery’! I add Authenticated users & gave them full permission. I would also really like to fully understand my localhost IIS server…I would also like to know how to set my IIS up so when asked for the ftp credentials I can put in the info & have it work that way too! However very many thanks for your very helpful reply

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4 comments

  1. You could also try this.

    In IIS manager

    1. Go to Application pools and choose the one used by your WordPress Blog.
    2. Right Click and choose Advanced Settings…
    3. Change the Identity to LocalSystem
    4. Click OK to save changes.

    Then on Sites,

    1. Choose your WordPress Blog from the sites list
    2. Right Click on it and click on Edit permissions
    3. Go to security tab and click on Edit… (Group or user names)
    4. Click on add and type “Authenticated users
    5. Click on Check Names to validate the username
    6. Click OK to save changes.

    With that, WP should update without the need of using FTP.

    Basically you just give read/write permission to an authenticated user… WP is running as a LocalSystem User.

    To learn more about ftp configuration you can go to this Microsoft article.
    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc771012(v=ws.10).aspx
    Also, here there is a blog post showing how to install/configure FTP server…

    If you are not able to set it up, you can also install another ftp server.. Ie: Filezilla FTP server, you can get it free from here http://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=server

    You can read more about IIS configuration at http://www.iis.net/learn/manage

  2. FTP credentials are fallback for when writing directly to the file system is not available. Naturally they take active FTP (or SSH) server – which is typical for any hosting out there, but not necessarily part of local installation.

    Essentially you have two options:

    1. Troubleshoot why direct file system access is not available to your WP installation. On WordPress side Core Control plugin would be a starting point.

    2. Configure FTP server in IIS, see its documentation for specifics (it seems depending on IIS version you might need to download and install some stuff for it first).

    I never had serious filesystem access issues on Windows, but I am running Apache stack myself. Might be some IIS-specific quirk.

    1. Run ‘inetmgr.exe’

    2. Access ‘<your_server>Sites<your_wordpress_site>

    3. Under the IIS pane open ‘Authentication’

    4. Select ‘Anonymous Authentication’

    5. Click Edit… under Actions in the right pane

    6. Select ‘Application pool identity’

    7. Click ‘Ok’

    8. In File Explorer, navigate to the WordPress folder

    9. Right-click and select ‘Properties’

    10. Under the Security tab, click Edit…

    11. Select IIS_IUSRS

    12. Check ‘Full control’

    13. Click ‘Ok’

  3. You can also updated the core files of WordPress which placed on site root and only update the wp-admin & wp-includes folders files, that will fix the issue as well. And keep your wp-content folder remain same as it is without no changes in that.