Modifying IIS 6.0 Metabase Properties That Reference the Systemroot Folder

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 with SP1

The IIS 6.0 Migration Tool migrates metabase properties that reference the systemroot folder on the source server, but does not update the references to the systemroot folder on the target server. If the location of systemroot folder on the target server does not match the location of the systemroot folder on the source server, you must modify the metabase settings on the migrated Web sites to reference the correct systemroot folder on the target server. Because the default systemroot folder name changed from WINNT to Windows in Windows 2000 Server and later versions, you might need to manually modify the metabase properties that reference the systemroot folder on the target server.

These metabase properties that reference the location of the systemroot folder can include the following:

  • HttpErrors. The HttpErrors metabase property specifies the custom error string sent to clients in response to HTTP 1.1 errors. Each string in the list specifies the HTTP error code and subcode, indicates whether the handler will be a URL or a file, and specifies which URL or file the client will be sent. Each string can be in either a URL or a file format. If you migrate the Default Web Site on Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000, you must reset the HttpErrors metabase property to contain the systemroot folder for Windows Server 2003, even if the systemroot folder exists on the same drive on both the source and target computer.

  • ScriptMaps. The ScriptMaps metabase property specifies the file name extensions of applications that are used for script processor mappings.This property contains references to paths with default ISAPIs, such as C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\asp.dll.

Compensate for the differences in the location of the systemroot folder on the target server by completing the following steps:

  1. Enable the IIS 6.0 metabase edit-while-running feature.

  2. Open the MetaBase.xml file in Microsoft Notepad.

  3. Search for any references to the systemroot folder on the source server and replace these references with the systemroot folder path on the target server.

    For example, if the source server had been installed in C:\WINNT and the target server is installed into C:\Windows, you should replace any occurrences of "C:\WINNT" with "C:\Windows".

  4. Save the MetaBase.xml file.

  5. Disable the metabase edit-while-running feature.

    For more information about the edit-while-running feature, see Enabling Edit-While-Running in IIS 6.0.