I am running IIS 7 on Windows Server 2008 R2 with PHP 5.4. One of my PHP scripts is trying to access a file on a protected network share using a UNC path. How can I change the IIS service account to an account that has permission to access the share? This is really easy to do on Apache HTTP server (you just change it), but it's not clear how to do with IIS. What can I do?
Update:
I was able to get things working using the "Connect As" option in the "Basic Settings" of my website and then specifying an account that has access to the network share. It appears that my problem is related to this question:
https://serverfault.com/questions/366234/iis-identities-application-pool-vs-connect-as-in-basic-settings
For IIS 7 running on Windows Server 2008 R2 ... In the IIS Manager, select the Application Pool under which your Web Site is running.
Click "Advanced Settings". There will be an entry for Identity (it is under the Process Model section). Click it, provide credentials for your account that has permission to access the share.
UPDATE
You should make sure that if you are using an Active Directory Domain Account, you provided that correctly under Identity for the running App Pool. For example, MYDOMAIN\myAccount.
After making this change, you will need to do the following:
Stop the Web Site.
Recycle your Application Pool.
Start the Web Site.
UPDATE II
From the comment discussion on this answer, #HydroPowerDeveloper was able to get the PHP script to be able to access the network share via UNC path using WebSite -> Basic Settings -> "Connect As" and setting the credentials there.
In the past, I have always used the approach of setting Identity via Application Pool and that has allowed my code to access Network shares via UNC path.
However, all of the sites/applications I have deployed on IIS are .NET based WCF or ASPX sites.
I would speculate (but am not 100% certain on this, would need research/testing to confirm) that the Identity specified in the Application Pool is used by executing .NET code, whereas the "Connect As" is used by the PHP script.
Generally the Application Pool is set using the least amount of privileges as possible.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff647402.aspx
The easiest route is to allow access to the current IIS account.
In Explorer, navigate to the shared directory.
Right Click -> Properties -> Security
If you don't see the expected IIS user in the list (Group or user names), edit and add the user as required.
I used "NETWORK SERVICE" -> Check names.
The detailed instructions are on that site.
In this way, the system is still restricted, we're ONLY allowing access to specific directories, we don't need to create any new users, we don't need to recycle the application pool and we don't need to perform any nifty impersonation code.
To resurrect an old question...
I've just been setting up a Win 2016 server that uses some Perl to access a UNC share. I set the Application Pool to an account that I verified had the correct permissions on that share. I then set up my site to 'Connect as...' (under 'Basic Settings') the same user. I still couldn't get access working.
Much head scratching later, I realised that my 'Virtual Directory', cgi-bin, was running under the original 'pass through' account. I then set up the virtual directory to 'Connect as...' the same account as the site and the application pool and, bingo, it all works fine.
So, remember to update any Virtual Directories as well as the site and App Pool...
I recently started an Orchard-CMS website. That's a new CMS which uses ASP.NET MVC 3. http://www.orchardproject.net you can find more info.
It has to be really easy to install a theme. But everytime i try that, i get the error that the dependencies.xml file is not accessable. (Orchard needs the dependencies.xml file, to write the links to new theme's and modules)
My site is running on an IIS7 local machine and i granted all permissions to the ASP.NET user and the NETWORK USER. But i still have permission-problems, any ideas?
By default the IIS 7 application pools run under IUSR account, so you should grant this user the appropriate permissions. From security perspective it's good to create a new, separate account for each application pool and I'd advise you to do so. It'll also give you more fine-grained control.
Also, check whether the permission changes were correctly propagated to App_Data and App_Data/Dependencies folder and their content. If not, change permissions for Dependencies folder explicitly. I've noticed that sometimes they don't get propagated correctly if you change permission at the root level.
I've just installed windows server 2008 r2 along with visual studio and dropbox. I'm using it as a VM for development and dropbox helps me keep my files in sync with other machines.
I've got my site set up in IIS but I'm getting an access denied error when trying to view the site. I've had this before and to get around it in the past I've gone through and added the IIS_User account to the list of permissions to read/modify the files. I assume because the file's have been copied down with drop box the files don't have the necessary permissions. Here's the bugger, I can't batch update the files by modifying permissions on a folder, I'm having to do it right to the file level and even worse, one at a time! I can't have this.
I'm relatively new to 2008 r2 and IIS 7 so I have no idea what's happening here. Can someone explain what is going on and if there's an IIS/file permission setting I can update to resolve it at the top level folder?
I've tried adding anonymous permssions on the website in IIS and I've added permissions on the folder for IIS_User (even Everyone). I have an Administrator account and that's already set to allow me to read/write/modify the files.
This is typically the message I'm getting 'An error occurred loading a configuration file: Access to the path X is denied'.
This is happening on ascx & aspx files as well as config files.
Edits:
The site is visible when debugging from Visual Studio.
The site is operating in Full Trust (internal)
Please help, this is stopping me from working and driving me insane!
By default in IIS 7, websites run as the local system's network account (NetworkService), not as IIS_User.
To verify, in IIS Manager, select the Site in question, click Basic Settings... and check the Application Pool it is assigned to. Then go into Application Pools and check the Identity for that Application Pool. Make sure that user listed is in the ACL.
Adding Everyone to the ACL should work instead, but just in case I would suggest you check the above. Also of course make sure when you set the ACL to check the box for resetting inheritance on all subfolders, if that is appropriate for your application.
You could also try setting the identity of the application pool to a local (or domain) user you have created which has access to your application directory.
Hope that helps.
Regarding whether other identities would work for your app pool, that depends entirely on whether those identities have permissions to all the files and/or databases and other resources you application needs to access. Right now you have the application running under your user account, which is generally not recommended. IIS has your password cached, and if you change it, your application will stop working until you update the application pool configuration.
As far as setting NTFS permissions, it can get tricky. Once you have disabled permissions inheritance, that file or folder will need to be updated individually every time you need a permission change. The flip side of this is that you cannot remove inherited entries on an ACL, you can only add to them. However you can design a strategy that offers a baseline level of permission at the root of a file structure, and then add permissions to subfolders/files.
In order to check & reset inheritance on a folder, go into its properties, security tab, click advanced, then click Edit. You can see whether this folder inherits permissions from its parent, and optionally wipe out all subfolder/file permissions and enable inheritance on all child folders & files.
Hope this helps.
I am trying to FTP to a new FTP site I setup with IIS 7.0 for the Windows Server Web (64-bit) edition. But I get the above error when I try to login to this site. But I can login to my other FTP sites.
Also, when I select this website from IIS Manager, the FTP section does not display in the middle section although it does display in Action panel. And I cannot successfully login to this FTP site either.
I have checked and I have Log on locally selected. I do not have allow only anonymous connections. I have Access this computer from the network selected.
I restarted my IIS and FTP services also.
The one different thing I noticed about this website in IIS different from the other site that has FTP working is that this one there are 3 virtual directories beneath the site. And that when I click on any one of these 3, then the FTP strip does appear in the center pane. Make sense?
How can I debug cause of this error? Any SW tools I can use?
Have you tried logging in from the FTP server? If you do this, and have "Show detailed messages from local requests" enabled under FTP Messages, then you'll get a clearer idea as to why the login if failing. In my case I got the following message (I am using IIS Manager Users, and Passthrough authentication)
530-User cannot log in.
Win32 error: Access is denied.
Error details: Filename: \\?\C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\config\redirection.config
Error: Cannot read configuration file due to insufficient permissions
To solve this I gave the NETWORK SERVICES user read only access to the config directory specified in the error message. I'm not 100% sure this is the right thing to do, but it certainly fixed this issue for me.
in my situation, I was missing Role Service FTP extensibility, which is actually allows IIS Manager Auth.
This is pretty tricky, as you could allow IIS Manager auth, but still it would not work until you have not installed FTP Extensibility
In my case I forgot to enable the Basic authentication
There seem to be many different possible causes. In my case, I was unable to login with the plain "username" with the same error as mentioned.
It was solved when I logged in with ".\username" instead.
For some reason the FTP client was trying to login with a domain account, while I just wanted to login with a local computer account.
Hope this helps someone.
Try submitting your credentials in this format:
UserName: Domain|Username
Password: secretSquirrel
I had the same problem, I removed the FTP site and followed this:
http://www.iis.net/learn/publish/using-the-ftp-service/configure-ftp-with-iis-manager-authentication-in-iis-7
Prerequisites - I set the permissions on the folders using the 4 command samples but this did not alone fix the issue, so I cannot in good faith say this step is needed, but it is what I did and it now works.
CONFIGURE THE IIS MANAGEMENT SERVICE AND ADD AN IIS 7 MANAGER -
Just do step 4, removing the existing user first and then re-adding them.
Creating a New FTP Site and Configuring an IIS 7 Manager Account -
All the steps here
CONFIGURE THE FTP SITE TO USE IIS 7 MANAGER AUTHENTICATION
All 12 steps here, including the "administrator" setting in step 5.
Then it started working for me, I am guessing when I did this without a guide I skipped something simple.
In My case I have made that user a member of IIS_IUSERS.
Using IIS Users.
Do not isolate users -> User name directory was working fine. Users started in the right folder.
When I was switching to Isolate Users -> User name Directory I had the following error:
Response: 530 User cannot log in, home directory inaccessible.
Win32 error: The system cannot find the path specified.
For some reason, you need to add the LocalUser virtual directory that points to your root.
It has to be that exact name and it's case sensitive.
That worked for me.
Per this knowledgebase article, you would need the log on locally privilege enabled.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/200475
I had the exact same error. In my case, I was using a local user defined on the server running FTP. The username was very short (3 characters). I could "run as" this user on the server, confirming that Windows was Ok with it, and allowed it to authenticate. But when testing FTP, it would return User cannot log in.
Solution? I renamed the user to be longer (4 characters). Of course, updated its name under Authorization as well. Then FTP worked. Hope it helps someone!
For me, I've configured the IIS as per usual procedure properly. The anonymous authentication was working but specific user are not.
because, the user accounts were created in IIS. Actually it was also supposed to be created Windows local accounts.
Then it worked.
Please Check the security of folder which is use that ftp .
see if the user or group you select for that ftp is associate with security of that folder .
In my case I had to remove domain from user.
So, your user should be like username, not like domain\username.
Hope it helps to somebody.
For some reason my user was "locked". So I could "unlock" it at local user manager (computer management). Now it works fine. I hope it helps.
I would recommend checking FTP logs first. The status code will give you more information about the issue. Here is the explanation of the status codes: The FTP status codes in IIS 7.0 and later versions
I had this issue because my IIS didn't support passive mode. After entering data in FTP Firewall Support module, the issue was solved.
More scenarios from this post 530 User cannot log in, home directory inaccessible
Authorization rules. Make sure to have an Authorization rule that allows the user or anonymous access. Check “IIS > FTP site > FTP Authorization Rules” page to allow or deny access for certain or all users.
NTFS permissions. The FTP users (local or domain users) should have permissions on the physical folder. Right click the folder and go to Properties. In the Security tab, make sure the user has required permissions. You can ignore Shared tab. It is not used for FTP access.
Locked account. If you local or domain account is locked or expired, you may end up seeing “User cannot log in” error. Check local user properties or Active Directory user settings to make sure the user account is active.
Other permission issues. The user account may not have “Log on locally” or “Allow only anonymous connections security” rights.
I spent long time looking for a solution, I've tried every shared answer on the internet and nothing could solve the issue. It is an issue I was ignoring for years and I never could fix.
Ok, I've Plesk installed and I'm not sure if it has some effect on IIS FTP to do the following behavior ...
Using Process Monitor tool, and making ftp login request and watching the tool and doing your investigation using this tool, you can get a hint about the REAL reason of the problem.
For me, I found out that IIS FTP was trying to access the ftp folder from a path DIFFERENT than the actual ftp path I've set, I do not know why, but maybe Plesk has some effect on this.
The actual ftp path is
C:\inetpub\vhosts\zidapp
The path that IIS FTP was trying to access DURING the login process is
C:\inetpub\vhosts\Servers\7\localuser\zid_app_ftp_user
I fixed the issue by creating a folder link from 'actual' folder path to the path IIS was trying to access - using the tool mklink tool
CMD command
mklink /d C:\inetpub\vhosts\Servers\7\localuser\zid_app_ftp_user "C:\inetpub\vhosts\zidapp"
I've fixed the issue that way, so wen FTP is trying to access the folder from the wrong path, it is now goes to the correct one.
Please note doing folder shortcut wont work for this, you need a link like linux, not a shortcut ...
I hope it will help you :)
You can check the reference account you are using to log in.
Mine happened to be locked out causing the 530 error.
When setting up a virtual directory under IIS using a UNC path to a remote share, what user identity should I be expecting to see the read request to the share come under?
I've setup the above scenario and configured the user under 'Connect As' as a known user who has permissions on the remote share, which I checked with Windows Explorer.
However, when trying to access a file from within a web browser on the share using http://localhost/myfiles/atestfile.txt, I am getting an HTTP Error 401.5 - Unauthorized: Authorization failed by an ISAPI/CGI application error returned. 'myfiles' is mapped to the remote share and atestfile.txt resides in the shared folder.
If I use sysinternals filemon application to see what process and user the read request to the share is being carried out under, then I get the details that the request is through the w3wp.exe process and the user is shown as "NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK".
I was expecting the user to be shown as the user I confugured under the 'Connect As' option.
Any guidance appreciated.
If i recall correctly (used iis about 4 years ago) it was IUSR_. I'm not sure that it's still so, but give it a try.
Edit: try to give a look at this post, maybe you will find some clues ;)
Did you try it also with other file extensions than "txt", maybe "test.html"? What DLL is used for txt in the ISAPI extensions configuration (web -> Home Directory -> Configuration...)?
The section "To configure security and authentication for a virtual directory" in the MSDN article "How to: Create and Configure Virtual Directories in IIS 5.0 and 6.0" should contain the information you'll need for finding the right configuration.
I guess the account used in the security settings should be able to access the network share. This could be accomplished inserting the account in the right group or changing that account.