Page Not Found Error After Deploying The Solution Using PowerShell

Question

I am a novice in sharepoint 2013.

I have created a Sharepoint 2013 Solution using "Empty Project" as my template and added two aspx pages.

When deploying the solution using VS2012 the solution gets deployed and worked perfectly. When I use powershell to deploy the solution on this same web application also it works as expected.

The problem arises when I deploy the solution using powershell on a different web application. It deploys perfectly but then I get page not found error even though I can see the aspx pages in the file system. If I deploy the solution using VS2012 on this same web application it works perfectly and then even if I use power shell in my subsequent attempts it works fine.

I am really stumped and have no clue as to where I am making a mistake.
What special does VS do while deploying the solution for the first time?

Below is my powershell script

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.Sharepoint.Powershell
Import-Module WebAdministration

$webURL = read-host -prompt ‘Sharepoint Web Application URL (Eg: http://myurl.com):’;
$rootFilePath = read-host -prompt ‘Full File Path of wsp file (Eg: C:\Packages):’;
$wspFilePath = $rootFilePath + '\my.wsp'


$spWeb = Get-SPWeb -Identity $webURL

$pool = (Get-Item "IIS:\Sites\myapplication"| Select-Object applicationPool).applicationPool

Restart-WebAppPool $pool

write-host "App Pool resetted."

Add-SPSolution $wspFilePath -Confirm

Install-SPSolution -Identity my.wsp -GACDeployment -WebApplication $webURL -Force

write-host "Solution deployed."

The solution gets deployed perfectly but I am unable to browse my pages.

Answer 1

On first deploy using visual studio, the solution feature is also activated. This step is not executed on deployment via powershell.. even in your script.

Activate the feature through script or UI and it should work fine.