IIS: Home Directory Cannot Point to Mapped Drives (304187)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Internet Information Services version 5.1
  • Microsoft Internet Information Services version 6.0
This article was previously published under Q304187

SYMPTOMS

On the Home Directory tab in the Browse For Folder dialog box, mapped drives appear in the drive list even though they cannot be selected. When you click a mapped drive in this list, OK is unavailable.

CAUSE

Starting with Internet Information Services (IIS) 5.1, you cannot select a mapped drive as the home directory location for a Web site or a virtual directory. In earlier versions of IIS, you can select a mapped drive, but it is then changed to the UNC path for the mapped drive.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft does not recommend that you use mapped drives for Web sites and virtual directories in IIS.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

  1. Create a mapped network drive.
  2. Open the Internet Services Manager (ISM).
  3. Expand the local computer, and then expand Web Sites.
  4. Right-click Default Web Site, and then click Properties.
  5. On the Home Directory tab, click A directory located on this computer.
  6. Click Browse to open the Browse For Folder dialog box.
  7. In the drive listing, click a mapped drive. Note that OK becomes unavailable.

REFERENCES

For additional information about why you should not use mapped drives in a service such as IIS, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

180362 INFO: Services and Redirected Drives

257174 Using Mapped Drives with IIS

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:4/24/2003
Keywords:kbpending kbprb KB304187
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