301 redirect using custom 404 error page

on windows

[wibble]

I've modified a smart 404 handler script to redirect requests from .htm pages to the new .asp equivalent.

The redirection seems to be working fine but the status code is not returning a 301.

Any ideas?

[bakedjake]

You don't want to 301 redirect pages that should be 404s.

Why? It's a cause for a spider trap.

Do a 404, but serve the user back a meta refresh, javascript redirect, or some content. But leave the status code as a 404.

[wibble]

I have just redesigned the site from a static to a dynamic database driven site. The problem was that all the indexed .html pages needed to be redirected to the news .asp with a 301 header response preferably.

The site is hosted on a windows shared server.

I've got the script working now but thanks anyway.

[bakedjake]

Ah, I misunderstood. Sorry. :)

[john_k]

...but the status code is not returning a 301

What is it returning? And how, exactly, are you doing the redirect? (When you return a 301, you can't also use Response.Redirect)