Getting http 403 error when accessing website from remote client

Question

I have created an asp.net website that is to be accessed from client browsers running on the same domain.

I've hosted the site on IIS 7.5

I have disabled Anonymous Authentication and Enabled Windows Authentication from the Features View under the IIS section.

I have added the following in the web.config for the site:

<authorization>
  <allow users="group\BizTalk Application Users" />
  <deny users="?" />
</authorization>

I am able to open the website from a browser when running on the server that is hosting the site. However, if I then logon to a different server in the same domain, using the same credentials, when I try to browse to the site I get an http 403 error.

After getting no joy with the above I tried disabling all security to the site. I disabled Windows Authentication and enabled anonymous authentication but still I get the same error. I checked the IIS log on the server and can see that the sub code for the 403 is 18.

I've run fiddler on the client and see the following request / response:

Request

GET http://tst-bts01/Vasanta.Int.SEOPSupportApp/Orders.aspx HTTP/1.1
Accept: image/jpeg, image/gif, image/pjpeg, application/x-ms-application,       application/xaml+xml, application/x-ms-xbap, application/vnd.ms-excel, application/vnd.ms-  powerpoint, application/msword, */*
Accept-Language: en-GB
User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; Trident/4.0;   SLCC2; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET CLR 3.0.30729; .NET4.0C; .NET4.0E)
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Connection: Keep-Alive
Host: tst-bts01

Response

HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Server: Microsoft-IIS/7.5
X-Powered-By: ASP.NET
Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2013 10:24:34 GMT
Content-Length: 0

I've tried changing the app pool that hosts the site. I've tried disabling the call the corporate proxy (isa server), running out of ideas now.

Can anyone tell me what I've done wrong?

Thanks, Rob.

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 29 '13 at 10:41

You need to read the webserver logs; by default, these are stored in %SYSTEMDIR%\LogFiles\.

The line corresponding to the above request includes a substatus error code in addition to the 403 status; those codes are explained in detail on the Microsoft support website.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 31 '13 at 08:32

0

The error was a 403.18. Seems that this was caused by the fact that I'd setup custom error messages for authorization failures.

answered Jan 31 '13 at 08:32

tr0users

403
3
9
16

score -1 · Answer 3 · edited Sep 16 '15 at 19:04

The possible solution is to install “ASP.NET v4.0” as Application Pool on IIS.

ASP.NET v4.0
ASP.NET v4.0 Classic

Solution here:

To install open command prompt (Press Windows + R and type cmd and press ENTER).

Type cd C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\ and press ENTER.

Type aspnet_regiis.exe -ir and press ENTER again.

This will installing .NET’s framework into IIS for you.

After successful install Close the command prompt.

Now, you need to modify the Application Pool for your site.

Expand out your Sites node and locate the site you want to modify (select it).

To the right you’ll notice “Basic Settings…” just below the Edit Site text. Click this, and a new window should appear.

Select the .NET 4 Application pool using the “Select…” button and click OK. Restart the site.

Getting http 403 error when accessing website from remote client

3 Answers3