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Configuring Directory Browsing in IIS 7

  • Article

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

If directory browsing is enabled for a directory in Internet Information Services (IIS), users receive a page that lists the contents of the directory when the following are true:

  • Users do not specify a file in the Uniform Resource Locator (URL). For example, they navigate to https://www.contoso.com/ instead of https://www.contoso.com/default.htm.

  • The Default Documents feature is disabled in IIS. Or, if the Default Documents feature is enabled, IIS is unable to locate a file in the directory that matches a name specified in the IIS default document list.

Important

By default, directory browsing is disabled in IIS so that users cannot see the contents of directories. To enhance security, you should leave directory browsing disabled unless you have a specific reason to enable it. If you enable directory browsing, make sure that you only enable it on the particular directory or directories that you want to share.

Prerequisites

For information about the levels at which you can perform these procedures, and the modules, handlers, and permissions that are required for these procedures, see Directory Browsing Feature Requirements in IIS 7.

Procedures

This task includes the following procedures:

Enable or Disable Directory Browsing in IIS 7

Configure the Information to Display in a Directory Listing in IIS 7