IIS Server - Problem with IIS 6 serving exe files to IE clients

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Problem with IIS 6 serving exe files to IE clients

=?Utf-8?B?ZGV2ZWxvcGVyQHN0Zi5jb20=?=

2004-01-30, 2:36 am

I am migrating a currently working web site from IIS 5 on Win 2000 to IIS 6 on Win 2003 Web Edition. When trying to download any exe file from the IIS 6 server to the client (IE 6.0.2800.1106 on Win XP) I get the following error:

---------------------------
Microsoft Internet Explorer
---------------------------
Internet Explorer cannot download <filename>.exe from <server>. Internet Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later.
---------------------------
OK

I have seen other posts with the same issue but with no resolution. Based on the other responses I have already checked the following:
1. The exe Mime type is set to application/octet-stream for the site.
2. The file is not in a directory marked with execute permissions as seen through IIS management console.
3. There is no content expiration set on the site.
4. The site is not using SSL, plain http.

Here is where it gets interesting. When clicking the download link, IE will not ask for a filename to save to, as it normally would. It will download the entire file into IE’s cache and then pop up the error message. I get the save behavior when righ
t clicking “Save Target As”. I have tried on different client machine with the same result.

In contrast if I use a second Win 2003 Web Edition machine to download the file, everything works fine.

David Wang [Msft]

2004-01-30, 7:38 am

The problem sounds like IE/Client mis-configuration and not with IIS6. It
sounds like you have somehow configured IE to NOT ask you whether to
save/open an EXE file.

--
//David
IIS
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//
"developer@stf.com" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3AC6D1BD-7AFC-4E62-96B7-FC8F0B3E5844@microsoft.com...
I am migrating a currently working web site from IIS 5 on Win 2000 to IIS 6
on Win 2003 Web Edition. When trying to download any exe file from the IIS
6 server to the client (IE 6.0.2800.1106 on Win XP) I get the following
error:

---------------------------
Microsoft Internet Explorer
---------------------------
Internet Explorer cannot download <filename>.exe from <server>. Internet
Explorer was not able to open this Internet site. The requested site is
either unavailable or cannot be found. Please try again later.
---------------------------
OK

I have seen other posts with the same issue but with no resolution. Based
on the other responses I have already checked the following:
1. The exe Mime type is set to application/octet-stream for the site.
2. The file is not in a directory marked with execute permissions as seen
through IIS management console.
3. There is no content expiration set on the site.
4. The site is not using SSL, plain http.

Here is where it gets interesting. When clicking the download link, IE will
not ask for a filename to save to, as it normally would. It will download
the entire file into IE's cache and then pop up the error message. I get
the save behavior when right clicking "Save Target As". I have tried on
different client machine with the same result.

In contrast if I use a second Win 2003 Web Edition machine to download the
file, everything works fine.

=?Utf-8?B?ZGV2ZWxvcGVyQHN0Zi5jb20=?=

2004-01-30, 8:36 am

This does not appear to be the problem as I can point the client browser at any other site including the IIS 5 version of the same site and it works correctly when downloading exe files.

I have found a workaround. If I remove "exe" extension from supported list in the IIS 6 Metabase for the following items, the problem disappears.

W3Svc/Filters/Compression/GZIP/HcScriptFileExtensions
W3Svc/Filters/Compression/DEFLATE/HcScriptFileExtensions

I only stumbled onto to this when I was trying to get http compression to work in IIS 6 and needed to add a file type to the list. Apparently IIS 6 is assuming "exe" extensions are server apps that need to be run and not files that need to be downloaded.

David Wang [Msft]

2004-01-30, 1:34 pm

The compression tester indicates that this is probably an IE issue. Maybe
IE assumes a resource with .EXE extension is executable and doesn't
decompress it on the client prior to execution. Apparently, a similar
problem happens in IE when you download a .ZIP file and also allow it to be
compressed.

The fact of the matter is that it is perfectly fine to have EXE files be
both executable on the server and on the client, and it should be able to be
transmitted in a compressed fashion to the client to execute. Whether the
client chooses to decompress and execute... that's up to the client.

So, I don't think IIS6 is assuming ANYTHING about the EXE...

--
//David
IIS
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
//
"developer@stf.com" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F8E855BD-48A5-41C7-8731-8777802196F4@microsoft.com...
This does not appear to be the problem as I can point the client browser at
any other site including the IIS 5 version of the same site and it works
correctly when downloading exe files.

I have found a workaround. If I remove "exe" extension from supported list
in the IIS 6 Metabase for the following items, the problem disappears.

W3Svc/Filters/Compression/GZIP/HcScriptFileExtensions
W3Svc/Filters/Compression/DEFLATE/HcScriptFileExtensions

I only stumbled onto to this when I was trying to get http compression to
work in IIS 6 and needed to add a file type to the list. Apparently IIS 6
is assuming "exe" extensions are server apps that need to be run and not
files that need to be downloaded.