IIS asks for login/pass when accessed using hostname but not when 'localhost' is used. Why?

Question

I have setup IIS on my xp machine and have setup a default homepage (that comes with the IIS installed). It is a help page I think.

when I access the page with http://localhost it works fine (IE/Chrome or FF) but when I access it using http://hostname it prompts for a loging/password and works when I enter my domain id and password on the intranet.

I have ensured that "anonymous access" is enabled in the properties window of the default site and "websites" node.

I searched stack overflow for similar queries but some indicate I need to change the IE/FF settings to allow "integrated security" etc and some suggest to look at the "log file".

I don't want to change the IE setting and there is nothing unusual in the log file of the IIS Server.

Can anybody help me figure out why this is happening?

thank you sb

Solution

You should look at the configuration of your IIS protection.

Although it seems like you are connecting to the same system, using "localhost" from a browser on your IIS server, you are connecting to 127.0.0.1.

When you connect to the http://hostname URL from another system, you are connection to the systems external IP address.

1. The client requests a resource on the server.

2. The IP address of the client is checked against any IP address restrictions in IIS. If the IP address is denied access, the request fails, and a 403 Access Forbidden message is returned to the user.

3. The server, if configured to require it, requests authentication information from the client. The browser either prompts the user for a user name and password or offers this information automatically.

Access Control in IIS 6.0 (IIS 6.0)

Comments

[Admin]

Step one is for you to see exactly what is requiring authentication. For this you can install Fiddler and use it to monitor the traffic from your browser to the web server. Once you see exactly which request is causing the authentication then you should update your question with that information.

[Admin]

How would configuring IE change the permissions on the IIS server?