Apache problem reading network drive using alias in httpd.conf

apache-2.2httpd.confnetwork-sharewindows-xp

I have Windows XP professional (SP3) running + XAMPP with Apache 2.2.12. Everything is properly installed and works fine with local drives.

The problem is that I want to access network drive "U:/" using alias defined in Apaches http.conf file:

Alias /w1/ "C:\workspace" // works
Alias /w2/ "U:\workspace" // does not work

Network drive U is hosted somewhere else and i cannot change any settings there.
I know that apache is running under another user and therefor is not able to find the network drive U. What can i do to make it work as a windows service?

I already tried to use DocumentRoot/Alias with UNC using the windows service "Log on As" with my own account.

EDIT: What at least works is: Running apache over console using the parameter "-c" with an additional setting apllied after the httpd.conf:

httpd.exe -c "alias /e U:\"

Best Answer

If apache is running as system account, it can't use network resources.

If apache is running as normal user, it can use network resources, but only in UNC format \\server\share_name.

Running Apache as service on Windows

Try to use an alias as DocumentRoot:

Alias /home/htdocs //FILESERVER/share/home/htdocs

And then you can use:

DocumentRoot /home/htdocs

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Windows/Apache/Perl/CGI “access is denied” when reading a file

Are you certain that the user 'SYSTEM' can execute perl.exe?

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Solution: The RewriteBase have to be the same as the Alias definition, not the physical path/directory in the filesystem!

Check the RewriteBase directive for mod_rewrite, it sounds like it could be related to that. Read about it at: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/mod/mod_rewrite.html#rewritebase

Edit 1:
To try this out I setup a clean fresh Ubuntu in VMware, a clean apache2 installation and created a new folder out of the normal path, then setup a .htaccess and I made it work with a proper RewriteBase rule. The default DocumentRoot is /var/www, I put a index.php in there just to show me where I am. It echoes out "I am index.php in default!". Then I created this Alias in Apaches configuration:

Alias /testberg /home/www/testberg
<Directory "/home/www/testberg">
    Options +Indexes
    AllowOverride All
</Directory>

And in there I put another index.php saying "I am index.php in testberg!". Under /home/www/testberg I created a .htaccess with the following contents:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /testberg
RewriteRule ^apa.test$ index.php

When I browse to http://192.168.100.183/testberg/apa.test I now see: "I am index.php in testberg!" and no errors in Apaches logfile, etc.

Isn't this what you wanted to accomplish?

Edit 2:
Trying with a different virtual host. On my Windows desktop I pointed ahntest.net to my VMware IP in c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. On my VMware server I created /home/www/ahntest.net and put a modified index.php there to echo "I am index.php in ahntest.net!" and created the following virtual host:

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost
    ServerName ahntest.net
    DocumentRoot /home/www/ahntest.net

    Alias /testberg /home/www/testberg
    <Directory "/home/www/testberg">
        Options +Indexes
        AllowOverride All
    </Directory>
</VirtualHost>

Browsing to http://ahntest.net gives me "I am index.php in ahntest.net!", browsing to http://ahntest.net/testberg gives me "I am index.php in testberg!" and finally browsing to http://ahntest.net/testberg/apa.test gives me "I am index.php in testberg!" so it works just fine here too from what I can tell. The .htaccess/patch in Edit 2 is the same as under Edit 1 above.

Best Answer

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