Troubleshooting HTTP Errors

This section describes HTTP errors that can occur when you attempt to configure Reporting Services components. Click the following links to read about specific errors in this topic:

HTTP 400 Bad Request

HTTP 400 Bad Request

If you are using a non-default Web site or you modified the properties on either the site or the virtual directories used to access the report server or Report Manager, you might encounter HTTP 400 errors due to incomplete or invalid settings.

Report Manager hosted on a non-default Web site

If this error occurs when you access Report Manager (for example, by typing https://servername/reports in the URL address of a browser window), do the following:

Report Server hosted on a default Web site

If the error occurs when you access report server (for example, by typing https://servername/reportserver in the URL address of a browser window), the most likely cause is an invalid IIS installation, especially if the report server is hosted in the default Web site. To check IIS settings for the default Web site, look at the values in the IIS metabase (metabase.xml):

  1. Open metabase.xml in a text editor. By default, it is located at %windir%\system32\inetserv.
  2. Find <IIsWebServer Location ="/<servername>/W3SVC/1">
  3. Verify that the last value is 1. If the last value is not 1, the default Web site has an invalid configuration and you should consider reinstalling IIS.

HTTP 401 Access Denied

This error indicates that there is a problem with IIS settings on the site that hosts the report server virtual directory. You can get an HTTP 401 error if IIS settings are incomplete or invalid for the report server virtual directories.

Accessing a local report server instance through a fully qualified domain name or host header

You can get an HTTP 401 error if you use a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or a custom host header to browse a local Web site that hosts the report server on a computer that runs Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1).

The cause of the error is a loopback check security feature that results in an access denied error if the FQDN or the custom host header does not match the local computer name. For more information and instructions on how to resolve this error, see Resolving error 401.1 when you browse a Web site that uses Integrated Authentication in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

Using a local or domain user account

In a security environment that uses Kerberos with constrained delegation, HTTP 401 can occur if you configured an application pool to run under a domain user account, but did not create a service principal name (SPN) for the domain account. The following links provide additional information about using custom accounts for an ASP.NET application:

How To: Create a Service Account for an ASP.NET 2.0 application

Accessing Report Builder

HTTP 401 errors can occur if you try to open Report Builder and the report server is configured for forms authentication, or you try open Report Builder on a computer that is located in a different domain than the one that contains the report server. For instructions on how to resolve this error, see Configuring a Report Server for Report Builder Access.

HTTP 403 Forbidden

This error can occur when permission to access Reporting Services application files has been denied:

  • Verify that the account assigned to the application pool that contains the Report Server Web service is a member of IIS_WPG security group.
  • Verify that the authorization rules on ASP.NET allow access to the Web service. In a default installation, all users (*) are allowed access to ASP.NET. If the ASP.NET authorization settings on the Web site used to access the report server has custom settings, verify that the Web service account is allowed access. To check authorization rules, open IIS Manager, right-click the Web Site properties, click ASP.NET, click Edit Global Configuration, click Authorization, and view the rules for Local Authorization.

HTTP 404 File or Directory Not Found

This error indicates that there is a problem with the virtual directory configuration.

  • If you are accessing a report server through a non-default Web site and you encounter this error, review all the steps for setting up a report server on a custom Web site to ensure you did them all. For more information, see How to: Configure Reporting Services to Use a Non-Default Web Site (Reporting Services Configuration).
  • Verify that the report server virtual directory properties are set correctly. For SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services, the ASP.NET version should be set to 2.0.50727. The Wildcard application mapping should be set to aspnet_isapi.dll. For best results on resetting the properties on the report server virtual directory, do the following:
    1. Open the Reporting Services Configuration tool.
    2. On Report Server Virtual Directory page, select Apply default settings, and then click Apply.
    3. On the Web Service Identity page, re-select the account you are using, and click then click Apply.
  • Verify that the URL you are specifying is correct for your deployment. If you assigned a specific port to the Web site through which you are accessing Reporting Services, you must include it in the URL. For example, if you assigned port 8080 to the Default Web Site, the URL is https://servername:8080/reportserver.
  • If you installed Reporting Services as a named instance, the default virtual directory might include the instance name. To verify the virtual directory name, use the Reporting Services Configuration tool and open the Report Server Virtual Directory page and Report Manager Virtual Directory page.
    If you installed SQL Server Express Edition with Advanced Services, the default virtual directory names are different than the default names for other editions. For example, if you are accustomed to using https://localhost/reports to access Report Manager in the Developer Edition, you must use https://localhost/reports$SQLExpress to access Report Manager in the Express Edition with Advanced Services.

HTTP 500 Internal Server Error

Reporting Services requires Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 or later. This error can occur when the report server or Report Manager virtual directories are mapped to version 1.1.4322 or earlier. To check the application mapping, navigate to the report server virtual directory and right-click Properties. On the Virtual Directory tab, click Configuration, scroll to the .aspx extension, and read the Executable Path value. If it is set to v1.1.4322 or earlier, you must configure the virtual directory to use version 2.0. Follow the instructions provided in Knowledge Base Article 306005 to register specific versions of the .NET Framework in IIS.

After you register ASP.NET 2.0 on the computer, you should reset IIS and re-specify the report server and Report Manager virtual directories in the Reporting Services Configuration tool.

See Also

Concepts

Connections and Accounts in a Reporting Services Deployment
Reporting Services Log Files

Other Resources

Troubleshooting Reporting Services
Reporting Services Errors and Events

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance

Change History

Release History

15 September 2007

New content:
  • HTTP 400 and 403, added new items for 401 and 404.

17 July 2006

New content:
  • HTTP 401 Access Denied