TechTips - How to Delete a Web Application in SharePoint 2007

It's important to know how to create a website in SharePoint 2007 but it's just as important to know how to delete that website from SharePoint when you either no longer need it or for whatever reason you might have for deleting a website from your SharePoint 2007 instance. It's a fairly simple task to complete. In this guide I will walk you through the steps to delete a web application (website) from within the SharePoint 2007 Central Administration Website.

When you go to delete a web application there are some options you will have to select when deleting the website. Sometimes you might just want to delete the web application but not the database that stored all of the websites information. When deleting the website from SharePoint you will have the option to save the database or to delete it along with the website. This can come in handy if you want to preserve the data for awhile just in case you decide deleting the website was a bad idea. If you don't delete the content Database and you find you have deleted the wrong Web Application then restoring the website is going to be a whole lot easier. So I like having this option when I am deleting my web applications, I always choose NO and then after a few weeks delete the content DB within SQL when I know I no longer need the Database.

You also are asked if you want to delete the website out of IIS, sometimes you might have the website setup in a manner where you want to preserve your IIS settings and will still use the IIS website to go to either redirect to another website or go to entirely new website but the settings with the old site still could work with the new site. Either way you will be asked if you want to delete the IIS website when you delete your web application in SharePoint 2007.

So how do you go about deleting the website from SharePoint 2007? It's just a few click s, follow these steps:

Open Central Administration Website

Click Application Management Tab

Click Delete Web Application (SharePoint Web Application Management Section)

Click Web Application Drop Down Selection Box

Click Change Web Application

Click Web Application you want to delete (make sure this is the application you want to delete)

Click Radio button next to Yes/No for Delete Content Database (read above for information about this)

Click Radio button next to Yes/No for Delete IIS Web Sites (read above for information about this)

Click Delete (it will process)

Once the site is successfully deleted you will get a page that tells you the process was completed successfully. Make sure that you double check that you select the right Website to delete before proceeding, especially if you choose to delete your content database when deleting the website. That is an error you don't want to make!

Well I hope this guide helps you to delete your website (web application) and to better understand the settings that SharePoint offers when deleting the websites.