Host Static Website with IIS Express - ajax

Question

Is it possible to host just static files on IISExpress without a web.config?
I have a html5 Application Prototype (no serverside code) and I would like to host the website on IISExpress Webserver because there are a few json files simulating a REST-API which I access with AJAX.
There is a main.html file and some api/data.json files.
When Im creating a VS-Project everything works fine.
I delete all config and VS-related files and added the site manually with
appcmd add site /name:"HTMLStandalone" /bindings:http/*:56668 /physicalPath:"C:\Users\me\somefoler\myapp"
UPDATE: works fine, it results in the following entry in the applicationhost.config
<site name="HTMLStandalone" id="4">
<application path="/">
<virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="C:\Users\me\somefolder\myapp" />
</application>
<bindings>
<binding protocol="http" bindingInformation="*:56668" />
</bindings>
</site>
when I start the site
iisexpress.exe /site:HTMLStandalone
the process fails:
Failed to translate binding to url prefix *:56668
Registration completed for site "HTMLStandalone"
Failed to process sites
Report ListenerChannel stopped due to failure; ProtocolId:http, ListenerChannelI
d:0
HostableWebCore activation failed.
Is it possible to host just static files without a web.config?

Answer 1

web.config file is not mandatory. It seems your appcmd.exe command is little off... Run following command instead
appcmd add site /name:"HTMLStandalone" /bindings:http/*:56668: /physicalPath:"C:\Users\me\somefoler\myapp"
Note that, to run this site you must be running as administrator. If you want to run as non-administrator, run the following command
appcmd add site /name:"HTMLStandalone" /bindings:http/*:56668:localhost /physicalPath:"C:\Users\me\somefoler\myapp"

Answer 2

From the iis.net website
You can also use the /path option to run a site directly from a
folder. This option works for any type of application, including
static HTML, ASP.NET, PHP, and WCF. By default, IIS Express will run
the site on http://localhost:8080/. For a managed website, such as
ASP.NET, IIS Express will use .NET 4.0. You can use the /port and /clr
options to override these default values.
In my case this was not enough. /path and /config flags are not combinable. I wanted a custom applicationhost.config file (in order to add the mime-extenstions for json and text/cache-manifest)
The current solution was to add the bindings:http/*:56668:localhost
Alternativly to make the site available on the (local) network, you can use the dns-name of your pc/server, e.g. bindings:http:/*:56668:my-pc