Solution to the Firefox port problem

The built in webserver in Visual Studio 2005, formerly known as Casini, uses a dynamic or static port on the localhost machine (e.g. http://localhost:2049/default.aspx). It is dynamic by default, but you can make it static if you choose. That works very well except when you try it in Firefox. It simply gives you this response:

This address uses a network port which is normally used for purposes other than Web browsing. Firefox has cancelled the request for your protection.

It does that by default whenever you use a port other than port 80 – the default website port. It took me a lot of digging to find the solution and here it is.

1. Open Firefox
2. Type about:config in the address field
3. Right click anywhere on the screen
4. Click new > string
5. Enter preference name as: network.security.ports.banned.override
6. Enter string value as: 2049 (or whatever port number you want)

Who said that all these new security features are a nuisance?