NS not Correctly Accessing Web Server

[stringman]

I am having a problem accessing Web pages when utilizing Netscape. My client is a government agency using NS 4.79 so I must make everything compatible w/ older browsers. Unfortunately, I cannot provide a link to the actual pages on my development server because of DoD classification restrictions. The following items outline the issue w/ each NS version. Each behaves differently.

NS 4.79
When entering the following URL: http://server/directory/filename.htm
1. Asks for user name and password. When entered, it is rejected. If Cancel is selected, then screen goes blank and Access Denied appears

When opening a page using the GUI (File > Open Page > Choose File > Open), the following URL reference appears in the Location Bar file:////server/directory/filename.htm. However:
1. SSI does not work (include files not parsed and included)
2. External JavaScript (.js files) not written to screen.

NS 6
When entering the following URL: http://server/directory/filename.htm
1. Screen turns white w/ error message: Access Denied

When opening a page using the GUI (File > Open Web Location > Choose File > Open), the following URL reference appears in the Location Bar file:////server/directory/filename.htm.
1. SSI does not work (include files not parsed and included)
2. External JavaScript works correctly

NS 6.2
When entering the following URL: http://server/directory/filename.htm
1. Screen turns white w/ error message: Access Denied

When opening a page using the GUI (File > Open Web Location > Choose File > Open), the following URL reference appears in the Location Bar file:////server/directory/filename.htm
1. SSI does not work (include files not parsed and included)
2. External JavaScript works correctly

NS 7.1
When entering the following URL: http://server/directory/filename.htm
1. Asks for user name and password. When entered, it is accepted When entered, it is accepted and works correctly.

When opening a page using the GUI (File > Open Web Location > Choose File > Open), the following URL reference appears in the Location Bar file:////server/directory/filename.htm.
1. SSI does not work (include files not parsed and included)
2. External JavaScript works correctly

IE 6
When entering the following URL: http://server/directory/filename.htm everything works correctly (SSI and external JavaScript). Does not ask for a password.

When opening a page using the GUI (File > Open > Browse > OK), the following URL reference appears in the Address Bar file:////server/directory/filename.htm.
1. SSI does not work (include files not parsed and included)
2. External JavaScript works correctly


I can conclude that SSI will not work unless I route the URL through the Web server. But what about the following:
1. Why does the external JavaScript fail in NS 4.79?
2. More importantly, why does NS require a user name and password, and then fail and why won’t NS work using an http:// reference?

I have scoured all the IIS properties for the Web folder and subfolders and the NS browser preferences and cannot find anything that will account for this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

stringmanNS 4.79NS 6[B]

[stringman]

I solved the NS problem and thought I would share the solution. The problem, as I expected, was in IIS. The folder permissions under the Default Web Site on the Web server required changes to the Directory Security Tab.

Apparently, when you create a Web site under the Default Web Site, it enables anonymous acces, however, it doesn't set the account name. Once I supplied a user name and checked the "Allow IIS to control password" box, everything worked fine. I had fiddled w/ this information earlier but I guess I didn't have the right combination of fields and check boxes completed.

There may have also been some folder and Web Sharing issues that contributed to the problem, but I think it was solely the IIS setup.

Stringman