MIME types to host ClickOnce deployment on any Web Server

Jaspalsinh Chauhan -

You would have used ClickOnce deployment / publishing technique for your projects at some point.

If not then I would recommend it as it serves as web based installer / setup with minimal configuration and very easy to learn / maintain and push updates.

You can publish your project and host the deployment package on Web Server. Typically you would do it on an IIS web server.

IIS web server by default understands the artifacts of ClickOnce package and contains MIME types that allows this package to be requested or installed for web server.

But you are not limited to IIS web server and can host this package on any web server. For example - Apache or Nignx (on Ubuntu).

These web server does not know about the file types / MIME types of click once package so you need to take care of one extra step to make it work.

Following is the list of MIME types you need to add to the allow list of the web server where you wish to host your ClickOnce deployment package:

Extension - MIME type

  • .application - application/x-ms-application
  • .manifest - application/x-ms-manifest
  • .deploy - application/octet-stream
  • .msu - application/octet-stream
  • .msp - application/octet-stream

Add following MIME types to allow list of your web server configuration for this site and you will be able to use Non-IIS web server for hosting ClickOnce deployment / publish package.