Cannot Access IIS Metabase Through IIS Admin Objects (285286)



The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0
  • Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0

This article was previously published under Q285286
We strongly recommend that all users upgrade to Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) version 6.0 running on Microsoft Windows Server 2003. IIS 6.0 significantly increases Web infrastructure security. For more information about IIS security-related topics, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

SYMPTOMS

When you try to access the Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase through the IIS Admin objects programatically in an ASP page, IIS returns the following error message to the client browser:
Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0046'
Permission denied: 'GetObject'
/filename.asp, line xxx

CAUSE

For security reasons, access to the metabase (and subsequently the IIS Admin Objects) is restricted to members of the local Administrators group.

WORKAROUND

Use an authentication technique such as basic, digest, Windows, or certificate mapping, and make sure that the account in question has access to the metabase (that is, the account is a member of the local Administrators group).

Under no circumstances should you add any user account to the local Administrator's group in an attempt to work around this issue. Doing so leads to major security vulnerabilities.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/22/2005
Keywords:kbpending kbprb KB285286