Problems with Virtual Server on workgroup based Windows XP

I have known about this issue for a while - but I have kept on forgetting to post about it.  If you have Virtual Server installed on a Windows XP SP2 computer you may see an 'Access Denied' error when you try to open the Administrative website.  The simple, but non-intuitive, way to fix this is to:

1. Open 'My Computer'
2. Open the 'Tools' menu and select 'Folder Options'
3. Change to the 'View' tab
4. Scroll to the bottom of the 'Advanced settings:' box and uncheck 'Use simple file sharing (Recommended)' .
5. Click 'OK' and you should now be able to use the Administrative website.

When simple file sharing is enabled, a number of file restrictions are enforced, some of which stop the Virtual Server Administrative website from working properly.  I always forget about this issue because I always disable simple file sharing on all my computers, just out of personal preference.

Cheers,
Ben

Thanks to SrikGuru for the email about this.

Comments

• Anonymous
  October 14, 2006
  Ben, is this the same issue that can also be worked around by enabling Basic Authentication for VS instead of NTLM?  I have a workgroup machine this does not have simple file sharing enabled, but I have issues unless I swithc IIS to Basic Authentication and run as an administrator.