"HTTP Error 404 - File or Directory not found" deploying WCF service

While deploying WCF services in IIS6 I came across the annoying 404 error. That was a bit strange and hence, I started to search.

I am sharing here a solution that is quite simple and not so new, but it is a little tip that could save a lot of time :)

The error is described here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315122/en-us

SYMPTOMSWhen you request dynamic content such as an Active Server Pages (ASP) page, an ASP.NET page, an Internet Services API (ISAPI) application, or a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) application on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 server that is running Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, you may receive one of the following error messages: Error message 1HTTP Error 404 - File Not Found Error message 2HTTP Error 404- File or Directory not found Back to the topCAUSEBy default, when IIS is installed on any version of the Windows Server 2003 family, IIS only serves static content (HTML). RESOLUTION
Enable a Pre-existing Web Service Extension in IIS 6.0

To permit IIS to serve content that requires a specific ISAPI or CGI extension that is already listed in the Web service extensions list, follow these steps:
1. Open IIS Manager, expand the master server node (that is, the Servername node), and then select the Web service extensions node.
2. In the right pane of IIS Manager, right-click the extension that you want to enable. In this example, this is ASP.NET v2.0.50727.
3. Click to select the Allow check box.

 

22 Comments

Comments have been disabled for this content.