IIS7 give ApplicationPoolIdentity access to a network location

Question

I have a site in IIS7 that runs under ApplicationPoolIdentity.

Is it possible to give the ApplicationPoolIdentity access to network files?

I know that I can give access to local files by giving rights to the user: iisapppool\{apppoolname} but is there a way to give this ID access to files on the network?

Solution

ApplicationPoolIdentity is a LOCAL user (generated by IIS, its identity is not known until runtime) thus any attempt to access anything on the network would result in it using the COMPUTER$ account.

Using ActiveDirectory you should then be able to grant the COMPUTER$ account access to the files you want.

Alternatively, using ActiveDirectory you could create a Domain User account, configure the application pool identity to use that domain user, and grant that user access to the network files.

Read more here about Application Pool Identities.