trace.axd returns a 404 error

Question

On a .Net production server, I am unable to look at the Application trace. The web server returns a 404 error. When copying the files on my local computer, the trace works, making further testing impractical.

The trace seems to be correctly set:

<trace enabled="true" requestLimit="20" pageOutput="true" 
traceMode="SortByTime" localOnly="false" />

edit:

crap, I was trying to reply to it directly since I lost 2 hours on that and that some googling showed I was not the only one who stumbled there. Apparently I can't accept my own answer :)

Answer 1

First of all, check whether the trace works whith a minimal trace directive:

<trace enabled="true" />

should work in any case.

Then check the IIS configuration: an URL rewriting rule might be interfering with the trace.axd url.

If this is not the case, check whether the server accepts the .axd extension (Manage IIS>Properties>Home Directory>Configuration: The .axd extension should be present, executed by aspnet_isapi.dll, and not verifying that the file exists)