WebResource.axd 404 for my SiteMapPath CSS and others.

Question

The site I have runs great on my server and on a virgin 2003 server. But when I go to move the site to the client’s server some of the sites features don’t work. Like the CSS for the SiteMapPath and javascript for the menu.

Log from the client’s server:

2009-04-03 17:22:20 W3SVC44836191 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX GET /WebResource.axd d=nFPK0XLN-ynHK7RFK3-O_5JOGa3F6eDQZaw2fDS9H-hsMCDPLAS0vS6xsQkMZOo5bD2x9W3P9ULIjVogWhfPoA2&t=633626988000000000 8080 - XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX Mozilla/4.0+(compatible;+MSIE+6.0;+Windows+NT+5.1;+SV1;+InfoPath.1;+.NET+CLR+2.0.50727; +.NET+CLR+1.1.4322;+.NET+CLR+3.0.04506.30;+MS-RTC+LM+8) 404 0 2

Have tried the uncheck “Verify that file exists” trick for the axd extension, no dice. http://allantech.blogspot.com/2008/01/webresourceaxd-gives-404.html

I am using the text menu form http://www.obout.com. The only thing I found in the knowledge base didn't help. http://www.obout.com/inc/KnowLedgeBase.aspx?id=114

I have double checked the file permissions.

Any ideas?

Specs:

OS: Windows 2003 Server
IIS: 6
.Net: 3.5

UPDATE I ended up using a different server at the clients location everything runs great. I have yet to duplicate the error elsewhere or hear of anyone that has had a similar issue.

Answer 1

Did you check the server time? Sometimes it too can cause problems if its not set properly.

If that doesn't work, try installing the aspnet_client files again by running this command on the Visual Studio Command Prompt -

aspnet_regiis -c

Then do this -

aspnet_regiis -i //Will install ASP.NET version and update scriptmaps at the IIS metabase root and for all scriptmaps below the root.

Answer 2

Does the Event Log perhaps contain a more informative error message? A 404 return code may not necessarily mean "not found" - the ASP.NET handler may still execute but result in an error. This error message will probably indicate the fault.

If there are no errors in the Event Log then:

1. Check whether other WebResource.axd calls are succeeding. Does the application actually use any WebResource calls?
2. Do the resources you are trying to load actually exist within the application? You can use Reflector to peek into any 3rd party DLLs and see their resources.
3. Does your application re-configure or otherwise mess around with HTTP handlers? If so, perhaps something might be unregistering or pre-empting the WebResource.axd handler?

Answer 3

This might seem a bit obvious, but have you checked the registered httpHandlers for your web application?

All it takes is one <clear /> attribute for all of this to not work. So you might want to check the client's web.config file in the Microsoft.Net\Framework\Config and see if everything is there. On my machine I found the following line:

   <add path="WebResource.axd" verb="GET" type="System.Web.Handlers.AssemblyResourceLoader" validate="true"/>

If it's not there add the line to some <httpHandlers> section.

Answer 4

Is the site Asp.Net 2.0 or 3.5? you mention in your question spec .Net3.5 yet in your comment it seems you are setting the site up as a 2.0 site. have you tried changing the application under iis to be a 3.5 application?

If your site is 3.5 you may need to redo aspnet_regiis from the 3.5 framework directory.

Answer 5

I'm guessing the install of IIS has gone south. Since its a production server the client doesn't what to reinstall IIS. If someone happens to solve this question please post it here.