[RESOLVED] error 404

[mhh12]

2 Mar 2011

IIS Confusion
Hardware/software equipment
Windows XP Professional including sp3
IIS version 5.1
Visual Web Developer Express 2010
SQL Server 2008 R2

I have come up with the 404 error.

Apparently, I have to get my site Pwr03, which is a project in VWD 2010 Express, displayed in the Console Tree in the left pane of Internet Information Services.

I write the following comments to let the reader know what I have already tried. I don't need to do it again.

I have apparently loaded IIS 5.1.

Do I have anything else listening on port 80? Going to the command prompt and typing netstat -an p tcp I get a long list of active connections. The 0.0.0.80 has a foreign address of 0.0.0.0 and a state of LISTENING. What does that mean? Is there something else listening or is only IIS listening. I presume IIS uses port 80 and nothing else is supposed to use the port.

I have gone to Start:Administrative Tools:Internet Information Services, Clicked on HKRAM (local computer) and gotten absolutely nothing. I think what I am trying to do is get IIS to display recognition of my VWD 2010 Express program's Pwr03 project which includes an aspnetdb.mdf database file. The first page in this project is default.aspx with a code behind page. However, I don't see any way for IIS to connect to the Pwr03 project. In IIS, clicking on 'connect' brings up a form that wants a computer name. Since it already has the only computer name this computer has,that doesn't seem to be the way to connect to Pwr03. I can also click on 'restart services' and it says 'the services haven't been started'

OK. How do I start the services? Seems to me I read that when I start the computer the IIS automatically starts. If that doesn't happen, how do I start it?

I gather I should be seeing my project in IIS. On one forum I was told to follow the path I would see on the left side of the screen in IIS and I could verify that the file I get the 404 error on was actually there. Since nothing is there except the name of my computer, how do I get the project to show up there. Or if the project is not what supposed to be there, then what is supposed to be there. As a matter of fact, I have started a number of projects because it is the only way to get around error messages. None of them show up in IIS.

I found an interesting commentary to do Start>Run, type cmd to get msdos black screen, type 'services.msc' and see if World Wide Web Publishing' and 'Simple Mail Transfer Protocol' are started. The Status for neither of them is 'started'.However, in both cases, the Startup Type is 'Automatic'. So does the 'Automatic' Startup type mean they are 'Started' or do I have to actually see the word 'Started' in the status column? I right clicked on both services and got the message- can't start service on local computer. Error 3. The system can't find the path. So how do I get the system to find the path?

Next I found some interesting instructions to do the old msdos black screen:

In directory C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727>
Type aspnet_regiis -i
It should display 'started installing asp.net 2.0'
At completion, type 'iisreset' on the same command line.
This worked beautifully except I got the messages:
Attempting stop...
Internet services successfully stopped
Attempting start...
Restart attempt failed.
IIS Admin Service is disabled.

Isn't that wonderful.

There was another check at the command prompt- 'net start w3svc' and this produced the message- System error 3. The system cannot find the path specified.

So, off hand, I would say IIS is not connected to a list of projects in VWD 2010 Express.

It seems to me I have tried enough experiments that indicate IIS is not connected. And I have to connect it to VWD 2010 Express's projects.

Going to Start>Control Panel>Add/Remove Programs> Add/Remove Windows Components> Internet Information Services is checked and the check box is shaded, which means not all the components are checked. However, they are all checked except the World Wide Web Service check box is shaded.

4 Mar 2011
I finally found 325889 'How to remove and reinstall IIS 5.0, 5.1 and 6.0'. I have followed its instructions on uninstalling and reinstalling IIS and I still do not get recognition of the VWD projects in IIS.
It's the same old question- How do I get the projects to come up in IIS? Then,maybe, I won't get the 404 error.

Much thanks for any help.

[honeybee]

Goto Start > Run and type "services.msc"

In the services list, locate the IIS Admin service and see if it's running.

You need to have all the services related to WWW and IIS running (SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is not required for websites, it's for emails and best left disabled).

In case restarting IIS is failing, check the event log which may show the cause of why it is failing. Most likely it is another service which has not started and IIS depends on that service (for e.g. World Wide Web publishing).

.

[mhh12]

7 Mar 2011
Thanks for some instructions that make sense.

I clicked Start>run, typed services.msc and got the list of services. I went to World Wide Publishing services and got error 3: The system cannot find the pathspecified.
Then I went to FTP Publishing and got the same message.
For kicks I went to Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and got the same error 3 message.

So I guess I know why IIS doesn't work. It's missing some dependencies.
Where do I get the dependencies? I have gone through the remove and reinstall at least three times. I also don't have any backup of the configuration.

By the way. Are there any other services which IIS is dependent upon besides the World Wide Web Publishing and FTP Publishing?

I would love to examine the IIS log. Where is it?

Thank you for your help.

[honeybee]

IIS probably doesn't depend on FTP. FTP and web are two separate things. I wonder why it would give you an error such as that.

As a last resort try a clean Windows install, make sure IIS is installed and give it a go. It should work out of the box. This is just in case you broke something with the various uninstalls/installs.

btw, you can use a command line tool to manage the IIS server:

Start > Run > iisreset /start
Start > Run > iisreset /stop
Start > Run > iisreset

The first command starts the IIS, the second one stops it and the third one resets (i.e. stops and then restarts) it.

.

[mhh12]

I am sorry to be such a nudge. However, things have to be done exactly; othersize, they don't work.
What do you mean by a clean install?
Sounds like I should do a clean install. Is this another way of saying to reinstall Windows XP?

Then what does btw mean?

I understand the start, start, start stuff. But I have a sneaking suspicion I have to reinstall Windows XP. Which, of course means reinstalling all the programs I use and backing up my data and bringing it back into the new Windows XP.

Again, thanks for your help.

Domo arrigato goziamusu.

[honeybee]

You mean gozaimasu? You are most welcome.

What I meant by "clean install": If there's another Windows XP machine available, which does not have any softwares installed on it yet, you can try it on that machine. See if IIS works on that machine.

If it's only one machine, then you may have to go ahead and reinstall Windows XP. If you already tried this and it still didn't help, maybe you should try installing from a different Windows XP CD.

.

[mhh12]

Most welcome....
I lived a short time inn Sapporo. I used to play judo with the son of the police chief of Sapporo and the son of a captain of the Yakusa. They were going to school at Hokaido University.

Anyhow, for the present I am going to take a different tack. I have reloaded XP and IIS is still missing dependencies. I have always been plaqued with these ridiculous error messages which I can never resolve. I am going to develop the application in Access 2010 and then give it to some web developers to transfer to the web. They have a server farm and are not too far away.

Your help has been most welcome. Syonarra.
I suppose I could have spelled that in katakana. But I have forgotten that, too.

[honeybee]

No worries, I am just learning bits of Japanese, so it's good to see some Japanese words that I can recognize and understand

It's odd that the IIS dependencies are missing. I have never had a problem with it as long as I have been working with XP. You should really try a different installation media, or try someone else's PC where XP was installed from a different installation media and not from your CD.

Please also mark the thread as resolved if you think it has served its purpose for now.

.

[mhh12]

I would be happy to mark the title resolved. Where do I do it? I have spent 20 minutes looking for where I can change the title and I can't find it.

[honeybee]

Look under Thread Tools. It's a dropdown that appears right above the first post of the thread. Clicking Thread Tools should open a small popup menu. The last option on the menu, 'Mark Thread As Resolved' is what you are looking for.

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[mhh12]

Done. Thanks for your help.