iis7 can not access site if site folder owner changes the password

Question

Had to switch to "Application user" (pass-through authentication) to see the site again (site advanced settings).

If I set "Specific user" (the one the site folder belongs to), iis7 shows the error. I've changed the user password as I've lost the old one.

It seems that the OLD password is stored (encrypted) in some configuration file (Unavailable (Config Isolation)).

IIS7 "detailed error report" shows few line of this configuration:

application path="/">
virtualDirectory path="/" physicalPath="XXXXXX.com" userName="XXXXXX" password="[enc:AesProvider:XXXXXXXXXXXXXxxXXXX:enc]" />
/application>

Regards,
Gabriele

Answer 1

By default, the Web site is configured to use Application user (pass through authentication). When you have the Web site with a "specific user", this user should be a special domain account what we call a "service account". This user should never have any group policy applicable and should never have "password expiry set".

You will get an error when this account password expires or when the user changes the password.