FP97: Root Web Is Not Displayed in List of Existing Webs (173143)

SYMPTOMS

When you work in Microsoft Visual InterDev version 1.0 and attempt to create a new Web project based on an existing Web, the root Web '<root web>' may not appear in the Web Name box. However, other Web projects on the server appear in the list and work as expected when you select them.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if the home directory for Web Services is located directly under the root directory. For example, this problem occurs when you create the following home directory

E:\wwwroot

instead of the following home directory:

E:\inetpub\wwwroot

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, follow these steps:

Remove FrontPage Server Extensions.
Create a new folder that will be the root folder for the World Wide Web services.

When you create this folder, make sure that it is located in a folder (that is, it is not located directly under the root directory).
Use Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) Service Manager to set this new folder as the home directory for the World Wide Web services.
Reinstall FrontPage Server Extensions.
Copy the content from the earlier location for wwwroot to the new location.

MORE INFORMATION

For all project-based activity, Visual InterDev works through FrontPage Server Extensions. To make the root Web visible, FrontPage Server Extensions set List permissions for the Interactive and Network Microsoft Windows NT groups for the parent folder of the root Web. The problem occurs because FrontPage Server Extensions do not set the permissions for the root directory. For example, FrontPage Server Extensions do not set permissions on drive E in the example, which is the parent folder of wwwroot. Without the List permissions, Visual InterDev cannot display the <root> folder.

In some cases the Services.cnf file is missing the entry that represents the root web.

When Visual InterDev or FrontPage97 connects to FrontPage Server Extensions on the Web server, it obtains the list of existing Webs from the following file:

Wwwroot/_vti_pvt/Services.cnf

This file, which you can open in Notepad, contains text similar to the following:

/
/project1
/project2
/coolproject

When you experience this problem, the first line with a single slash (/) may be missing. This indicates that there is no root Web even when one exists. If the slash is present, the permissions problems described in this article may prevent FrontPage and Visual InterDev from accessing the root Web.