Read access to the physical path

Question

I have a problem with access to my site. I gave IIS full control to my program but it's still not working.

The message:

The server is configured to use pass-through authentication with a built-in account to access the specified physical path. However, IIS Manager cannot verify whether the built-in account has access. Make sure that the application pool identity has Read access to the physical path. If this server is joined to a domain, and the application pool identity is NetworkService or LocalSystem, verify that \$ has Read access to the physical path. Then test these settings again.

I have no clue of what is wrong. I'm a newbie on IIS7, I know my website works, I have run it on another PC and it is working fine.

Thanks for your help!

Solution

There is nothing wrong, the reason is that AppPool User/identity has limited privilege for security reasons and you can simply ignore this warning. An effective way to eliminate this warning is to set your application pool based on a custom user, so:

1. Go to Administrative Tools > Computer Management > Local Users and Groups > Users
2. Create a user ie. YourDomainName with a strong password, click OK
3. Double click YourDomainName to open user properties
4. On General Tab: check User cannot change password and Password never expires and clear all others
5. On Member of Tab: remove all users

6. Click OK and save

7. Go to IIS Manager > Application Pools > Your domain's specific Application Pool > Advanced Settings

8. In Identity: click to change > Custom Account > Set > Enter User credentials from step 2, click OK and exit all

9. Right click on website node > Edit Permissions > Add That User and Grant Read & Execute - List Folder Content - Read

10. Using your browser: check if website is running to verify that settings you entered are correct.

11. From IIS manager > Sites > right click on your website node > Basic Settings > click Test Settings to check if authorization succeeds.

Good luck