IIS7 cannot verify access to path

iis-7permissions

I've configured some sites on IIS pointing to E:\WebApps and subfolders. In basic settings when I click the Test Settings… button (connection as the application user) I get the error:

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've checked that my IIS is running as NETWORK SERVICE so I've given read, read and execute and list folders contents access to not only E:\WebApps but also to E:. But I still get the error. This machine is not part of a domain. Any ideas what am I missing?

I've tried putting a web.config in E:\WebApps, and restarting IIS and the site in particular, but it made no difference.

Best Answer

I couldn't get the verification to work (anywhere else than in my workstation computer), but in the end I moved on and everything worked just fine, so maybe it wasn't that important.

Related Solutions

Security – Why does the site use the IUSR account when configured for pass-through authentication

I think you are misunderstanding pass through authentication. If pass through authentication is enabled, one of 2 things will happen:

for anonymous authentication, the user ID specified for anonymous access needs access to the physical path for the files. (By default, this is the built in IUSR account, but can be configured in the Edit action for anonymous auth)
if you have authentication enabled, then the authenticated user credentials need access to the physical path of the files. The application pool identity will also need read-only access to the files.

How to assign permissions to ApplicationPoolIdentity account

Update: The original question was for Windows Server 2008, but the solution is easier for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 (and Windows 7 and 8). You can add the user through the NTFS UI by typing it in directly. The name is in the format of IIS APPPOOL\{app pool name}. For example: IIS APPPOOL\DefaultAppPool.

IIS APPPOOL\{app pool name}

Note: Per comments below, there are two things to be aware of:

Enter the string directly into the "Select User or Group" and not in the search field.
In a domain environment you need to set the Location to your local computer first.

Reference to Microsoft Docs article: Application Pool Identities > Securing Resources

Original response: (for Windows Server 2008) This is a great feature, but as you mentioned it's not fully implemented yet. You can add the app pool identity from the command prompt with something like icacls, then you can manage it from the GUI. For example, run something like this from the command prompt:

icacls c:\inetpub\wwwroot /grant "IIS APPPOOL\DefaultAppPool":(OI)(CI)(RX)

Then, in Windows Explorer, go to the wwwroot folder and edit the security permissions. You will see what looks like a group (the group icon) called DefaultAppPool. You can now edit the permissions.

However, you don't need to use this at all. It's a bonus that you can use if you want. You can use the old way of creating a custom user per app pool and assigning the custom user to disk. That has full UI support.

This SID injection method is nice because it allows you to use a single user but fully isolate each site from each other without having to create unique users for each app pool. Pretty impressive, and it will be even better with UI support.

Note: If you are unable to find the application pool user, check to see if the Windows service called Application Host Helper Service is running. It's the service that maps application pool users to Windows accounts.

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