Configure the List of Default Documents in IIS 7

Article
07/02/2012

Applies To: Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista

Add a file name to the list of default documents when you want a specific file to be returned to client browsers when a document name is not specified in requests. For performance reasons, you should make sure that the first default document in the list is located in the file system. Remove any file names that you do not want to use as default documents.

Note

The Default Document feature must be enabled to add file names to the default document list and to serve default documents to client browsers. If both default documents and directory browsing are disabled, client browsers receive a 404—File Not Found error when a request does not include a document name.

Prerequisites

For information about the levels at which you can perform this procedure, and the modules, handlers, and permissions that are required to perform this procedure, see Default Documents Feature Requirements in IIS 7.

Exceptions to feature requirements

None

To configure the list of default documents

You can perform this procedure by using the user interface (UI), by running Appcmd.exe commands in a command-line window, by editing configuration files directly, or by writing WMI scripts.

User Interface

To use the UI

Open IIS Manager and navigate to the level you want to manage. For information about opening IIS Manager, see Open IIS Manager (IIS 7). For information about navigating to locations in the UI, see Navigation in IIS Manager (IIS 7).
In Features View, double-click Default Document.
In the Actions pane, click Add.
In the Name box, type the file name that you want to add to the list of default documents and then click OK. This file name will be added to the top of the default document list.
Optionally, select a default document in the list and in the Actions pane, click Move Up or Move Down to change the file's precedence.
Optionally, select a default document in the list, and in the Actions pane, click Remove to remove any file names that you do not want to use as default documents.

Command Line

To add a file name to the list of default documents, use the following syntax:

appcmd set config /section:defaultDocument /+files.[value='string']

The variable string is the file name that you want to add to the list. For example, to add a file named home.html to the default document list, type the following at the command prompt, and then press ENTER:

appcmd set config /section:defaultDocument /+files.[value='home.html']

To remove a file named home.html from the default document list, type the following at the command prompt, and then press ENTER:

appcmd set config /section:defaultDocument /-files.[value='home.html']

For more information about Appcmd.exe, see Appcmd.exe (IIS 7).

Configuration

The procedure in this topic affects the following configuration elements:

<defaultDocument>

For more information about IIS 7 configuration, see IIS 7.0: IIS Settings Schema on MSDN.

WMI

Use the following WMI classes, methods, or properties to perform this procedure:

DefaultDocumentSection.Add method

For more information about WMI and IIS, see Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) in IIS 7. For more information about the classes, methods, or properties associated with this procedure, see the IIS WMI Provider Reference on the MSDN site.