Troubleshooting

If you are having difficulty with your Web server, use the following sections of this topic to troubleshoot your problems.

Getting Assistance While You Work

Peer-to-peer newsgroups are available to help you interact with other users of our products, including Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). You can use any newsreader software to access these newsgroups, however, we suggest using Internet Mail and News. Regardless of the newsreader or news client you are using, you may need to configure it to read the newsgroups. When prompted for News Server, specify msnews.microsoft.com. You do not need to enter an account name or password. Before posting to the newsgroups, please review the Microsoft Newsgroup Rules of Conduct. For more information about Microsoft newsgroups please see http://www.microsoft.com/support/news/ and choose Internet Information Server.

Installation

If you are having trouble installing IIS, or operating the program following installation, check the following items.

Uninstalling Previous Versions

IIS 4.0 does not upgrade IIS 4.0 Alpha, Beta 1, or Beta 2 automatically. If you have IIS 4.0 Alpha, Beta 1, or Beta 2, you must uninstall it before installing IIS 4.0. You can do this by using the Add/Remove Programs application in Control Panel or using the IIS setup program:

  1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Internet Information Server, and click Internet Information Server Setup.
  2. Select Remove All.

Testing Your Installation

After installing, you can test your installation by using Internet Explorer to view the files in your home directory.

To test a Web site connected to the Internet
  1. Ensure that your Web server has HTML files in the Wwwroot folder.
  2. Start a Web browser, such as Internet Explorer on a computer that has an active connection to the Internet. This computer can be the computer you are testing, although using a different computer on the network is recommended.
  3. Type in the URL for the home directory of your new Web site.

    4. The URL is “http://” followed by the name of your Web site, followed by the path of the file you want to view. (Note the forward slash marks.) For example, if your site is registered in DNS as “examples.microsoft.com” and you want to view the file Homepage.htm in the root of the home directory, in the Address box you type:
    http://examples.microsoft.com/homepage.htm
    then press the Enter key. The home page appears on the screen.

 

To test a Web site on your intranet
  1. Ensure that your computer has an active network connection and that the WINS server service (or other name resolution method) is functioning.
  2. Start a Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.
  3. Type in the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for the home directory of your new server.

    4. The URL is “http://” followed by the Windows Networking name of your server, followed by the path of the file you want to view. (Note the forward slash marks.) For example, if your Web site is registered with the WINS server as “Admin1” and you want to view the file Homepage.htm in the root of the home directory, in the Address box you type:
    http://admin1/homepage.htm
    then press Enter. The home page appears on the screen.

User Rights

If a user is having trouble viewing your published files (that is, he or she is receiving HTTP "403; Forbidden" or similar HTTP errors when attempting to request a Web page), then there is most likely a problem related to the user rights that are configured on your Web site. In order to give users access to your published files, check the following items.

  1. Find the specific file, directory, or virtual directory which the user cannot access in Internet Service Manager.
  2. View the properties for that file, directory, or virtual directory.
  3. Select the File property sheet (if viewing properties of a file) or Directory property sheet (if viewing the properties of a directory or virtual directory). Ensure that the directory or file has Read access permissions (the Read check box should be selected).
  4. Select the File Security or Directory Security property sheet.
  5. Ensure that the user has either anonymous access, basic authentication permissions, or Windows NT Challenge/Response permissions that will allow him or her to view the content by clicking the Edit button in the Anonymous Access and Authentication Control field.
  6. Click the Edit button in the TCP/IP and Domain Name Restrictions field to ensure that the client's computer, group of computers, or domain name has not been restricted from accessing your resource.

Anonymous Authentication

If an anonymous user cannot access your site, check the following.

Ensure that the anonymous user's password is the same in both Internet Service Manager and User Manager:

  1. In ISM, select the Web site, virtual directory, directory, or file on which you need to check anonymous access and view its properties.
  2. Select the File Security property sheet (if viewing properties of a file) or Directory Security property sheet (if viewing properties of a Web site, virtual directory, or directory) and click the Edit button in the Anonymous Access and Authentication Control field.
  3. In the Authentication Methods dialog box, make sure that the Allow Anonymous Access check box is selected.
  4. Click the Edit button to view the user name and password that are used when an anonymous user connects to your site. In order to enable your Web site to automatically synchronize your anonymous password settings with those set in Windows NT, select the Enable Automatic Password Sychronization check box (it is selected by default for all resources that allow anonymous access).

Ensure that the anonymous user has Log on locally rights in Windows NT User Manager for Domains:

  1. Launch User Manager from the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) toolbar.
  2. In User Manager, select User Rights in the Policies menu.
  3. Choose the right Log On Locally and make sure IUSR_ (or your anonymous account) shows up in the list.

If you are having trouble preventing an anonymous user from accessing your site, please check the following:

  1. Select the File Security property sheet (if viewing properties of a file) or Directory Security property sheet (if viewing properties of a Web site, virtual directory, or directory) and click the Edit button in the Anonymous Access and Authentication Control field.
  2. In the Authentication Methods dialog box, make sure that the Allow Anonymous Access check box is not selected.

Basic Authentication

If users with Basic Authentication rights are having trouble accessing your site, please check the following.

Ensure that the login user has Log on locally rights in Windows NT User Manager for Domains:

  1. Launch User Manager from the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) toolbar.
  2. In User Manager, select User Rights in the Policies menu.
  3. Choose the right Log On Locally and make sure IUSR_ (or your anonymous account) shows up in the list.

Make sure that you specify a Default Logon Domain for the user: in the Authentication Methods dialog box, click Edit in the Basic Authentication field and enter the Domain Name.

If you are concerned about the safety of transmitting passwords in clear text (an industry standard that applies to Basic Authentication), use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to secure clear text passwords. You can configure SSL Client authentication by launching the Secure Communications dialog box from the Directory Security (or File Security) property sheet. Use Key Manager to create Key requests and the Secure Communications dialog box to enable an SSL Authentication scheme.

Copyright Information

© 1997 Microsoft Corporation

These materials are provided “as-is,” for informational purposes only.

Neither Microsoft nor its suppliers makes any warranty, express or implied with respect to the content of these materials or the accuracy of any information contained herein, including, without limitation, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Because some states/jurisdictions do not allow exclusions of implied warranties, the above limitation may not apply to you.

Neither Microsoft nor its suppliers shall have any liability for any damages whatsoever including consequential, incidental, direct, indirect, special, and lost profits. Because some states/jurisdictions do not allow exclusions of implied warranties, the above limitation may not apply to you. In any event, Microsoft’s and its suppliers’ entire liability in any manner arising out of these materials, whether by tort, contract, or otherwise shall not exceed the suggested retail price of these materials.