BUG: Microsoft Office Word 2003 stops responding when you try to open a Word 2003 document in Internet Information Server 4.0 (886662)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Internet Information Server 4.0
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:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/prodtech/IIS.mspx

SYMPTOMS

Microsoft Office Word 2003 stops responding when you try to open a Word 2003 document. This problem occurs when you try to open the Word 2003 document from a redirected folder by using wildcard characters. This problem occurs in Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 4.0.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because IIS 4.0 does not respond to the OPTIONS request that has a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI). This is true if there is a redirected folder that has wildcard characters.

When Word 2003 opens a document from the Web, Word 2003 sends the OPTIONS request to the document location. Word 2003 does this to determine the Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) capabilities of the server. If the server does not respond to the OPTIONS request, Word 2003 continues to wait for a response. This makes it appear that Word 2003 stopped responding.

You have to end the Winword.exe process to recover from this problem.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, install URLScan and block the OPTIONS request.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a bug in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to reproduce the problem

  1. Configure an IIS 4.0 server that has the latest service packs and the latest hotfixes.
  2. Locate the wwwroot folder.

    The wwwroot folder is typically located at C:\Inetpub.
  3. Add the following two folders:
    • content dynamic
    • content
  4. Set A redirection to a URL for the wwroot\dynamic\content folder value to "*;*.doc;/content." To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
    2. In the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager window, expand local computer, expand Web Sites, and then expand Default Web Site.
    3. Expand dynamic, right-click Content, and then click Properties.
    4. In the Content Properties dialog box, click A redirection to a URL on the Directory tab.
    5. Type *;*.doc;/content in the Redirect to box, and then click OK.
  5. Create a Word 2003 document. Name it "Tutorial.doc." Save "Tutorial.doc" in the wwwroot\content folder.
  6. Locate another computer that has Word 2003 installed. This other computer must not have a proxy client configured or a firewall configured. Open "Tutorial.doc" by using the following non-redirected URL:

    http://<servername>/content/tutorial.doc

    "Tutorial.doc" correctly opens.
  7. Next, open "Tutorial.doc" by using the following redirected URL:

    http://<servername>/dynamic/content/tutorial.doc

    The browser stops responding.
  8. End the Winword.exe process to obtain control of the browser. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Right-click the taskbar, and then click Task Manager.
    2. In the Windows Task Manager window, click WINWORD.EXE on the Processes tab.
    3. Click End Process.
    4. In the Task Manager Warning window, click Yes, and then click Close.

REFERENCES

For additional information about URLScan, visit the following Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Web site:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/secmod/html/secmod114.asp

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/23/2005
Keywords:kbtshoot kbbug KB886662 kbAudDeveloper kbAudITPRO
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