When I setup the ASP.NET SDK on IIS 5.1, when I run an .aspx script, it says

Server Application Unavailable

The web application you are attempting to access on this web server is currently unavailable. Please hit the "Refresh" button in your web browser to retry your request.

I'm new to ASP.NET so I have no idea how to fix this.

Is this happening for all .aspx pages?

Have you checked the event logs to see if there are any related error messages? If so, what are they?

Regards,

G. Andrew Duthie

yes it happens to all aspx pages, and I dont know where the event logs are

To view the event logs, make sure you're logged on with an administrative account, then go to the Start menu, select Programs (All Programs in XP), Administrative Tools, Event Viewer. In the event viewer window, you'll have a choice of Application, Security, and System logs. The Application and System logs are the most likely place to locate the error message. Try running an ASP.NET page, and if you get the Server Application Unavailable message, check the Application and System event logs for any ASP.NET-related errors or warnings.

If you find any, post the error message(s), which may help someone figure out what's causing your trouble. In the meantime, you may want to check this Microsoft Knowledge Base article, which might apply to your situation.

Regards,

Andrew

It sounds like a security permissions problem, I got over it by changing userName="machine" to userName="SYSTEM" in the machine.config file within the <processmodel> tag. (machine.config can be found in C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705\CONFIG) NOTE its not recommended for servers exposed to the internet

You could also try the MS KB artical here http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q315158
or there is more info here;
http://www.msdnaa.net/interchange/preview.asp?PeerID=870

Hope that helps :)

Sorry! But this could not solve my problem.

When I created a "Hollo World!" Page and run it, the "Server Application Unavallable" error occurred. So, according MS KB artical Q315158, I created a weak right user, "ASPUSER", and tried to login. The WIN2K Server gave me a error message saying I don't have right to login this machine interactively. Then I login as myself and changed the userName="SYSTEM" in machine.config file. When I run the "Hollo world!" this time, the famous "Server Application Unavallable" error showed up again!!

Seems there is a conflic between WIN2K Server permission and VS.NET permission. What should I do to fix this problem? Thanks! (I'm running VS.NET on a WIN2K Server.)

mqi, sorry if this is too obvious, but just doing troubleshooting...

did you install .NET AFTER installing IIS? Have you tried uninstall re-install IIS? Is the application in a virtual directory? If so, is that Virtual directory set up as an applicaiton?

After frequenting various forums about two weeks, I have tried the following:(1) Create a user ASPUSER (2) Add this user to Administrators group (A bit dangerous !) (3) Open IIS and right click on QuickStart properties. Then click Directory Security Tab and click Edit. Then chcek Anonymous access then click Edit. Next when the Anonymous popup window appear, click Browse to look for ASPUSER and select ASPUSER. (4) Search for machine.config file (from Start then Search). Then find username in <processModel and change the username to the username ASPUSER ( you specified in IIS before). That's it. Hope this helps. It works for me now. I have also installed ASP.NET Web Matrix. It seems OK too. Good luck.

Many thanks to Goudinov & Sokbase! Thank you for your response, which helped a lot.

I solved the “Server application unavailable” problem by:

1. Uninstall and re-install the IIS. After the installation, the Visual Studio .Net worked partially. It could build and browse some of form components, like text label, but could not display text box or button.

2. Uninstall and re-install the Visual Studio .Net. After that, the “Server application unavailable” error message occurred again. But this time the problem is associated with the security permission issue.

3. Change security permission in machine.config (the file can be find in C:\WINNT\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.0.3705\CONFIG). By changing the user name from username="machine" to userName="SYSTEM" in machine.config file, the Visual Studio .Net works fine!

thanks in advance..

I have the same problem, I have not tried the above fix that you did.

I am just wondering if you have had gathered formal information with the problem that
you had, and what caused it ?.

How mine started:

I had installed the New Updates for SP3 Win2k Server.

and all assorted updates from MS. Including the Framework ,,

all SP updates are all related to security, to which i did not have
time to read through, but I trusted greatly that MS knows what they are doing
and have great respect for their clients time,,,,,,,, and made sure that to give
us some hints on fixes if something like this happens

I guessed wrong.. in any case , thanks

The problem comes from the bug that you tried to install the ASP.NET on a domain controller. You can reference the following papers for more details:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q315158
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q306590

I actually have a problem to assign the READ privillege of the %installedroot%/assembly dir to the customized ASPUSER user account.

Good luck!

Dennis

The Server Application Unavailable error is definitely a permissions problem; it’s just a matter of figuring out where. I have read the article at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q317012 and applied the settings. However I’m still getting this error for the ASPNET account.

Changing the system.config user from “machine” to “system” is quite ok – it works – but to all those raving punters out there – it’s not a solution if you want to keep hackers out!

It seems, that most people having this error had fooled around with NTFS permissions, in an effort (I assume) to secure their server. This led to my demise…

My event log (after I had granted launch & access permission for ASPNET via dcomcnfg) is generating three warnings:

1.) Failed to connect t server Error 0x80070005
2.) Detection of product xxxx feature ‘Full_Redist’ failed during request for component xxxx
3.) Detection of product xxxx feature ‘Full_Redist’ failed. The resource C:\WINNT\Microsoft.Net\Framework V1.0.3705\asp_perf.ini does not exist

Article http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q319624 relates to registry settings to DCOM permissions. I tried to set whatever permissions I could, but with not a lot of luck.

Have you guys got any suggestions?

I´ve the same presumption...

Unfortunately changing the username to "system" doesn´t works :-(

I´ve got this application log:

The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( .NET Runtime ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. The following information is part of the event: .NET Runtime version 1.0.3705.288- aspnet_wp.exe - Common Language Runtime Debugging Services: Application has generated an exception that could not be handled.

Process id=0x5c8 (1480), Thread id=0x20c (524).

Click OK to terminate the application.
Click CANCEL to debug the application..

Any idea?
thanks!

Try this guys:


aspiis_reg.exe -i


--Mike

I have been fighting this for two days, argggh!

running aspregiis -i from it's home directory --windows\microsoft.net\framework\version\[somenumber]\

worked for me.

Thanks for the tip.

John