Server Application Unavailable

Problem

You get this error when running your application:

The web application you are attempting to access on this web server is currently unavailable. Please hit the "Refresh" button in your web browser to retry your request.

This error can occur for several reasons which are described below. An error message detailing the cause of this specific request failure can be found in the application event log of the web server. Open the Event Viewer and see the error message reported. Please review this log entry to discover what caused this error. A variety of causes and solutions are described below.

Permissions Not Set

If you re-used the virtual directory for another application, the Global Assembly Cache permissions may have been corrupted. In this case, do the following:

Step 1: Start the Microsoft IIS Manager from Control Panels, Administrative Tools

Step 2: Expand your computer, Web Sites, Default Web Site and the select the virtual directory of your application.

Step 3: Right-click and select Permissions Wizard (could be under All Tasks menu)

Step 4: Click Next on the first step.

Step 5: Select Inherit all Security Settings and click Next.

Step 6: Select Replace all directory and file permissions (recommended) and click Next.

Step 7: Review the summary and click Next to process the changes.

Step 8: Click Finish

Step 9: Run your application.

Application was Created in My Documents Folder

Due to .NET Framework 2.0 security restrictions, the Microsoft IIS web server will not run applications in the My Documents folder. Move your application’s folder from My Documents to a new folder outside of My Documents.

Application Pool configuration in Microsoft Windows 2003

If you are running Microsoft Windows 2003, you must set up separate pools for .NET Framework 1.1 and .NET Framework 2.0/3.0 applications. If you are using Microsoft IIS 6.0 on Windows 2003, you will need to set up an Application Pool for your application. One application pool can be used by any number of .NET applications as long as they all use the same version of .NET. For example, if you have an application already running on .NET Framework 1.1 and then configure a second application to use .NET Framework 2.0, then you must create a new application pool for the second application. You can do this in the IIS Manager by right-clicking on the Application Pool node and selecting the New menu to create a new pool. Once the new pool is created, go back to the virtual directory properties and change the application pool to the newly created one.

Aspnet_wp.exe could not be launched

If the error message reported is:

Aspnet_wp.exe could not be launched because the username and/or password supplied in the processModel section of the config file are invalid.

...then the most likely causes are:

Microsoft .NET Framework is no longer registered correctly.
The Microsoft Internet Information Server memory is corrupted.
The ASP.NET user no longer has access to the Microsoft .NET Framework folder, the application folder, or the Temporary Files folder.
You have recently applied a security patch to the Microsoft IIS web server.
Your system is a domain controller.
(Advanced) The processModel section of the Machine.config file does not specify AutoGenerate for the password.

If you continue to have problems, please see the Additional Resources section below.

Microsoft .NET Framework Registration issues

For #1, please:

See Re-Registering the .NET Framework for instructions on how to register the .NET Framework with the Microsoft IIS web server.

Microsoft Internet Information Server memory issues

For #2, either reboot your machine or restart the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) from the Command Prompt. To restart Microsoft IIS:

Step 1: Open the Command Prompt from the Start menu of your computer and go to the Programs, Accessories menu and select Command Prompt.

Step 2: Enter the following commands successively.

net stop iisadmin /y & net stop aspnet_state

net start w3svc & net start smtpsvc & net start aspnet_state

ASP.NET user issues

For #3, see ASP.NET User Does Not Have Permissions to Your Application Folder for instructions on how to grant the ASP.NET user access permissions to your application.

Security Patch issues

For #4, if you have recently applied a security patch, see these resources:

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=827641

http://www.asp.net/faq/ms03-32-issue.aspx

Domain controller issues

For #5 see:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315158

processModel issues

These issues are very rare, but may happen if you have modified the processModel file used by Microsoft .NET Framework. If you continue to have problems after you have tried all previous options and looked at the Additional Resources section below, then edit the Machine.config file in Notepad from the following folder:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\CONFIG.

Search for processModel and within the processModel XML line, search for username and Password. The username must be “machine” and the password must be “AutoGenerate”.

IMPORTANT: We strongly advise that you save a copy of the Machine.config before you modify it. Inadvertent changes to this file may cause other problems.