Long file path returning 404 for “hello.htm”

Question

I have a long file path that works on my server, but a simliar path returns a 404 error when it is on my clients (IIS6) server (http://ddmat.com/).

Here's the functioning file path on my server: http://www.forgefx.com/projects/ddmat/install/Application Files/McCurdys_1_0_0_0/Content/FBX/CCAE1B33/Roof-sectionB-02.fbm/hello.htm

My guesses:

1. Maybe the file path is too long?
2. Maybe the ".fbm" in the directory path is invalid?

Sorry for the vauge problem description. Please let me know what additional info I can provide that'd be helpful.

Update: The problem happens even in short paths, with no spaces: http://www.myserver/test.folder/hell.htm

Thanks, Adam

Answer 1

I'm interested in finding out the cause of this also. So I did some research online. I found this article. I think it might help answering this issue.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315122

Answer 2

The problem is the space in "Application Files". You should URL-encode the link (substitute the space with %20 in this case):

http://www.forgefx.com/projects/ddmat/install/Application%20Files/McCurdys_1_0_0_0/Content/FBX/CCAE1B33/Roof-sectionB-02.fbm/hello.htm

Update:

Two things:

1. Perhaps your client forgot to install/enable static content on IIS. It's a feature that must be explicitly enabled on the server. See this blog post: Don't forget to check "Static content service" in IIS7 installation (it's Vista related: here the Windows Server 2008 procedure: http://www.trainsignaltraining.com/windows-server-2008-iis7 )

1. It would be very strange, because it's not the default for .htm, but maybe your client's IIS/website configuration doesn't allow the htm mimetype. See this support article: IIS 6.0 does not serve unknown MIME types