An option would be to use WebDev as a “Custom Server” (on another port).

Unfortunately, the option “Use Custom Server” was disabled in all Web Site Projects’ “Property Page”… This was due to the “web location” of the Web Site Projects: they were all “HTTP” web sites (The “web location” of a Web Site Project can be specified at creation time: File System, HTTP or FTP).

Fortunately, this setting is easy to modify in the Visual Studio Solution File. Here is the difference between a File System Web Site and a Http Web Site:
Project(“{E24C65DC-7377-472B-9ABA-BC803B73C61A}”) = “FSWebSite”, “:FSWebSite”,
Project(“{E24C65DC-7377-472B-9ABA-BC803B73C61A}”) = “HttpWebSite”, “http://hostname.domain/HttpWebSite”,

With something like this defined in the machine’s host file:
127.0.0.1 hostname.domain

Once the Web Site Projects have a File System “web location”, we can “Use custom Server” via the “Start Options” (Right Click the Web Sites in the Solution opened within Visual Studio and select “Start Options”). My idea was basically to set “http://hostname.domain:8080/FSWebSite” as a Base Url and start WebDev (installed in C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft SharedDevServer10.0) Like this:

WebDev.WebServer20.exe /port:8080 /path::

Without a Virtual Directory as parameter (/vpath:xxx)… in order to host all the Web Site Projects within the same WebDev, each one in a subfolder; Each Web Site Project is indeed in a subfolder of the Solution. Ex.:
– C:/TFS/TeamProject/Dev/FsWebSite
– C:/TFS/TeamProject/Dev/HttpWebSite
– C:/TFS/TeamProject/Dev/OtherWebSite
The purpose is to support the “site switch” mechanism in place to navigate between the sites. Indeed, this mechanism does not support navigation between site with specific ports 🙁

But there are too many resulting issues…
– First, hyperlinks like ~/ does not work anymore as they used to reference the root of the Virtual Directory (I.e.: 🙂 which is now one level above the expected folder (I, 🙂
– Next, WebDev does not support Forms Authentication which is used by various Web Sites, with custom Role and MemberShips Providers.
– Also, we have to manually run WebDev or add a dummy Library Project with a post Build Event to start it. This Library Project must be moved in first position in the “Build Order” tab of the “Project Dependencies” (Right-Click the Solution in Visual Studio and select the “Project Build Order” menu).

Possibly, we could disable IIS. In such a case, WebDev would become the default server. This would solve the first and last issues mentioned above (“hyperlinks like ~/” and “how to start WebDev”). But we would have one specific and distinct port per Web Site, which is a issue for the framework currently used in those Web Sites.

Conclusion: Workaround not yet found 🙁