I recently upgraded my web server for AirJockeys.com to be Windows Server 2008 running IIS7 (where previously I was running IIS6). The main reason for doing this was to be able to play around with new features, including ASP.NET 3.5 and hoping to get better manageability and diagnostics of the server.

Instead I found that my my photo galleries were busted. Time to debug. What I could determine was that I couldn't even load any of the images from the server. Huh? Unfortunately as exposed by my hosting provider, I don't seem to get any better manageability or diagnostics from the server. I needed to phone my hosting provider (GoDaddy) to see if they could help. They debugged it and indicated that it was because I was trying to load files from a 'bin' folder and that is not allowed. However they did not have a fix for me.

This is where my Microsoft connections came to the rescue. I know the Product Unit Manager for IIS and after a quick email, I had a fix. Here is the fix for everybody who doesn't know the PUM of the team. Thanks Bill!

You can remove the bin folder restriction by adding/updating the web.config in the root of your web server with the following:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<configuration>

    <system.webServer>

        <security>

            <requestFiltering>

                <hiddenSegments>

                    <remove segment="bin" />

                </hiddenSegments>

            </requestFiltering>

        </security>

    </system.webServer>

</configuration>

Now this is where IIS7 pays off! The distributed config system easily allows this override.

Scott.

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