Virtual Folders and File Permissions on 64 bit Server 2003

[Craig Daniel]

Our installer targets Windows XP at a minimum, but normally we will be deploying on 64-bit Windows Server 2003 R2 machines. At the beginning of the script I have determined the OS/Machine type and set the appropriate 64 bit or 32 bit install mode.

All the files are installed in the right places, and custom actions performed flawlessly, but I'm having trouble with IIS and folder permissions.

Before creating the virtual folder, I'm using Set Read Permissions on the physical folder that the new virtual folder points at ($TARGETDIR$\\WebService). On my XP box this works fine. On the 64-bit Server 2003 R2 box, nothing happens.

Then I create a Virtual Folder with a new app pool in IIS, setting the site index to 1 to get the default web site. Again, this works fine on my 32-bit XP box, but on the 64 bit Server 2003 R2 box, nothing happens.

Can anyone suggest what I need to do to make this work?

Thanks.

[Gizm0]

It looks like permission errors. Take a look at the Event Viewer for installation error message from Windows Installer, and come back if you find anything. We need more info.

[Craig Daniel]

As suggested, I checked out the event logs but found nothing logged from Windows Installer except a success message.

So it appears that either the installer thinks it succeeded creating the virtual folder and setting folder permissions (which it obviously didn't), or else it doesn't log errors when they happen - can't tell.

[rlangham]

I had a somewhat similar issue, I was trying to set permissions on a non-IIS folder and it just didn't work for 64-bit. In my case, the folder was being created, but no permissions were set. Worked fine under 32-bit. I did very simple test as requested with the only difference was to set 64-bit mode.

http://www.installaware.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2750

Did you ever get any response or resolve to your issue? I have requested a couple of times (both public and private messages to be looked at,) but so far no luck.

Ron

[Craig Daniel]

I just thought I would post the solution to my original problem with IIS virtual folders on Server 2003 R2, 64-bit.

The problem was that the virtual folder was not created. I was passing in a hard-coded site index of 1 to get the default web site.

The solution was to use Get IIS Index for site "Default Web Site" into a variable and then use that variable in Create Virtual Folder in the install, and Delete Virtual Folder in the uninstall.

It's nice that this "solved" the problem (did it really?) but it makes no sense whatsoever. The site index that is returned from Get IIS Index is 1 (debugging by message box). That's the same value I was hard coding in the first place.

Can anyone explain why this "solution" works? Thanks.