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This article helps you resolve the problem that an error (access denied) occurs when a web application writes data to the ASP.NET App_Data folder.
Original product version: Internet Information Services 7.5 and later versions
Original KB number: 2005172
Symptoms
A web application is created using Microsoft Visual Studio and then published to Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5 or a later version. As part of the application's request processing, it needs to write data to the App_Data folder on the server. For example, the application uses a SQLDataSource or XMLDataSource. When it attempts to do so, an error message similar to the following is displayed:
Exception Details: System.UnauthorizedAccessException: Access to the path [path to App_Data folder] is denied.
Cause
Beginning in IIS 7.5 and later versions, the default identity for an application pool is ApplicationPoolIdentity. When a web application is created using Visual Studio, the App_Data folder is not automatically configured to allow write access for ApplicationPoolIdentity. Therefore the attempt to write to the App_Data folder will fail.
Resolution
To work around this behavior, grant both read and write ACL permissions to the ApplicationPoolIdentity (IIS APPPOOL\ApplicationPool) on the App_Data folder.
More information
ApplicationPoolIdentity is a managed service account, which is a new concept introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2. For more information on managed service accounts, see What's New in Service Accounts