IIS problem

Seeking advice on how to resolve Microsoft server software error

[carolynf]

I’m an independent Web developer and have a problem with IIS.

Awhile ago I made a stupid mistake which resulted in a nasty Stop error when I tried to boot. I’m running Windows 2000.

With the help of a knowledgeable family member and the following two separate newsgroup responses, I did the following:
1. Overlaid the System file (c:\WinNt\System32\config\System) from the Repair directory to get around the Stop error. Reinstalled drivers etc and discovered everything was fine except for IIS.
2. In Safe mode, uninstalled IIS, deleted inetpub, inetsrv and iis5 log. Then re-installed IIS.

Now IE gives me an HTTP 500 “Internal Server” error for localhost and all asp files. Interestingly, gif and html files in wwwroot display properly.

Should I just look in the Yellow Pages for an MSCE? One I contacted wants $100 / hour.

[DaveN]

local host sounds like a misconfiguration in the IIs check home page directory and that exe is tick, the asp pages are usally permissions in the win32 and system folder try googling alltheweb or another SE for "how to setup asp on IIS"

DaveN

[carolynf]

In the meantime, a local outfit whom I virtually called at random responded to my request for help. Their technician was able to fix it by applying several service packs and adjusting some settings.

Thanks for your help, Dave!

[txbakers]

Funny, I'm having a similar problem at a client site. IIS is working just fine for HTML pages, but will not run ASP.

Do you remember what settings were adjusted? Could you possibly do it again if you needed to?

We're applying the security patches right now.

I've never had this problem before with IIS, and I suspect security issues.

The event Log refers to a failure to activate the COM app out of process.

[carolynf]

No, I'm sorry. I wasn't even here when he fixed it. I suppose the service packs were the latest.

[kwngian]

Hello

You should check the default page setting in your IIS Manager under the "Documents" tab.

Chances are it has been reset back to default.htm and default.asp.

[Gizmare]

It is also a good idea when you have configured IIS the way you want it to back up the IIS metabase. This way in a disaster scenario you do not have to remember all of the settings.

[Stroke]

I have the exact same problem, i used PWS on a win98 machine to host all my web pages, mainly all asp content and it all worked fine, when i moved onto an XP box and using iis 5, all html, images work fine but no asp will work at all, constantly displaying 500 server errors, i have got all the permissions ticked, including even write access and exe access, i have no idea whats going on, how ever on the home directory tab when i click configuration nothing happens...

any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[txbakers]

Hi Stroke, welcome to the Webmaster World Forums.

The problem was simple in retrospect.

In the IIS Manager:

Right-click the site you need to work with and bring up the Properties.

Under "Home Directory" find the Application Protection drop down at the very bottom.

Change this to Medium and your ASP will work again.

[griz_fan]

A couple of other thoughts that might help. First, in IE's advanced settings, disable friendly error messages, this should give you more precise server error messages. Also, I found that Norton AV has a script scanning features that was killing my ASP pages (I was getting a 403.9 on my ASP, but static content worked just fine).

hope this helps!

[Stroke]

well i think it was some install error, simply cause that configure button to set thr asp extensions with the correct dll's wouldnt do anything, so after a removal and fresh iis install it all worked now, so thx for the info :)