Configuring the Anonymous User Identity

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

When the Web sites and applications running on the Web server require anonymous access, IIS is configured with a user account specifically for anonymous access. When a user connects to the Web server anonymously, IIS creates a process token for the user based on the user account that you configured in the anonymous user identity. The user account can be stored in the local account database on the Web server, or in a domain.

If, before upgrade, the anonymous user identity is configured to use a domain-based user account, after upgrade you need to configure the anonymous user account to the same domain-based user account. This is because the upgrade process automatically configures IIS to user the default anonymous account IUSR_computername, where computername is the name of the computer on which IIS is running. You can configure the anonymous user identity to the domain-based user account in IIS Manager.

For more information about how to configure the anonymous user identity, see Configure Anonymous User Identity.