Why won't IIS serve ASP files?

Alright, I give up! Installed IIS (v5.1) on my new box running Win MCE and thought that would do it. All of the required directories appear to be there (inetpub, wwwroot, etc), as do iisstart.asp and localstart.asp. Http://localhost/anything.htm serves fine, but no .asp file serves, including localstart.asp. Always get the HTTP error 500 white screen. Even removing friendly doesn't tell me anything useful.

I've read half a dozen KB articles and as many posts regarding the same topic, but nothing I try works. Other versions of IIS seem to give you the chance to specify which file extensions to allow and which to block (v6.0 apparently comes locked down and requires a selection to be made before .asp will display), but I can't seem to find anywhere to do that in v5.1. Am I just missing it?

I'm not altogether clear on the permissions required, but this is just a development system for myself, and I'm logged in as an administrator, so that should not be the problem. Right?

As far as my own webs are concerned, they look to me to be correctly created as sub folders in the wwwroot directory, just as they were in the tree in past computer (XP Pro) and gave me no trouble.

The network is running fine. I've pinged both localhost and computer_name and everything goes as it should. Frankly, I don't have a clue what else is left to consider. Anyone??

Ah, but you're the one asking. If you post the complete error message it may tell someone else something useful.

Here are some common problems with IIS on XP Pro.

First, make sure the WWW service is running and not in some hung state, and if you've made IIS configuration changes undo them, asp on IIS 5.1 works "out of the box". Verify that you were the adminsitrator user when you installed IIS.

If you're not using NTFS you should be. Ensure "simple file sharing" is not on.

As long as it's safe, turn off any firewall software while testing.

If you're running AV software turn off any script blocking software for testing.

Use the IIS console and create a virtual directory, make sure script execute is enabled, and put a simple asp test file in that directory. Then try to open the asp test page. Use something like <% response.write "it worked" %> as the page contents, then call it up in the browser using http://localhost/mydir/mytestpage.asp

Nothing so far, but I haven't found the "simple file sharing" toggle yet. Can you tell me where to find that please? The full error 500 message is:

'The server has encountered an error while loading an application during the processing of your request. Please refer to the event log for more detail information. Please contact the server administrator for assistance.'

The logfile doesn't give me the code or text of any of the custom messages, only tells me both 401 and 500. Maybe the custom messages are activated? I didn't see a toggle for doing that anywhere in the MMC. Am I just overlooking it?

Otherwise, did every step you suggested, including the testfile.asp in a brand new virtual directory. Hmmmmmm

check the computer Event Log to see the real problem.
check that you don't have any program using port 80,
like Skype for example.

Simple File Sharing setting is found from a windows explorer window, Tools - Folder Options - View and scroll down the Advanced setting list.

Be careful scrolling that list, if you accidentally click in the list area you can inadvertently change some other setting

Cal Learner, I have the same exact issue you have!!! Been working on it for the last 24 hours.

I just bought a new HP Pavilion laptop with Windows XP Pro yesterday and was installing all the development software. Since this laptop is also my developemtn system, I added IIS 5.1 component from my Windows XP cd. I got the 500 error code ('Server Application Error') when I try to run a test.asp or any ASP file. HTML file in wwwroot works fine. I read KB articles too and tried many things, still not working. Also, turn off "simple file sharing", turn off firewall,no av software running. However, I noticed that I don't have a few files related to Microsoft Distributed Transaction Coordinator (MSDTC), such as Comclust.exe, or not seeing Cluster Administrator under Administrative Tools. Is that the problem.

So, the error message:

"Server Application Error
The server has encountered an error while loading an application during the processing of your request. Please refer to the event log for more detail information. Please contact the server administrator for assistance."

In event log:

The server failed to load application '/LM/W3SVC/1/ROOT'. The error was 'Class not registered
'.
For additional information specific to this message please visit the Microsoft Online Support site located at: http://www.microsoft.com/contentredirect.asp.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Thanks!!!

well, google found this:
http://www.iis-resources.com/module...id=4696&forum=4
which leads to this:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/bernard/arc...3/22/39216.aspx
solved the problem for that other guy, hopefully for you two as well!

In IIS, goto the Home Directory for the site.
Have you enabled Script Execution?

Shadow Wizard, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! I was able to follow the article and got IIS 5.1 to work with my new Windows XP Pro!! Bravo! I love it ~~~

Koko

cheers Koko, thank that person who posted the solution, I only googled..