List of Special Files and Directories Maintained by FrontPage

This appendix lists all the files and directories that FrontPage adds to each root web or sub-web.

Folders

Files

Purpose
_overlay *.gif Overlay files for FrontPage’s text on GIF and navigation button features. These files are transparent GIFs that are overlaid on top of base button or banner images to build a complete text on GIF or navigation button composite image.
_derived *.htx, *.gif Files that are dynamically generated by FrontPage that can be regenerated at any time, such as *.htx files created by the FrontPage Search Component (only when using IIS with Microsoft Index Server) and composite text on GIF images (for example, theme buttons and banners).
_borders top.htm, left.htm, right.htm, bottom.htm Shared border definition files that are included into pages using shared borders.
_themes *.gif, *.inf, *.css files for each theme FrontPage themes storage. Each theme that is applied to the web is uploaded into a uniquely named subfolder of the _themes directory. Each theme consists of GIF, CSS, and INF files that define the theme.
_fpclass *.class Compiled Java class files that implement the Banner Ad Manager and Hover Button FrontPage components.
_private This folder is created in each FrontPage web. It is intended to contain user files that are not browsable. This feature does not work on IIS servers.
_vti_bin shtml.dll
shtml.exe		 Stub FrontPage Server Extensions executables for runtime functionality.
fpcount.exe Runtime portion of the FrontPage Hit Counter component.
*.idq Query files created by the FrontPage Search component when using IIS with Microsoft Index Server. These files reside in the _vti_bin directory in order to get execute permissions.
_vti_bin/_vti_aut author.dll
author.exe		 Stub FrontPage Server Extensions executables for authoring functionality.
_vti_bin/_vti_adm admin.dll
admin.exe		 Stub FrontPage Server Extensions executables for security functionality.
_vti_bot Used for custom FrontPage (WebBot) components created using the FrontPage SDK. This folder contains the implementations of custom FrontPage components. FrontPage custom components installed in these directories are optionally downloaded to the user's machine when that Component is inserted by the user.
_vti_cnf

For each HTML page and graphics file in a FrontPage web there is a configuration file of the same name.

Each configuration page contains a set of name value pairs, identifying such things as the last author to edit a page or the program associated with a file.
_vti_log Root web only. Only populated after the web administrator has enabled logging in the frontpg.ini or we<port>.cnf file. When active, an author.log file gets created here logging only FrontPage authoring and administration operations.
_vti_pvt _x_todo.htm Contains the current settings of the To Do List
_x_todoh.htm Contains the changes to the To Do List
access.cnf Contains HTTP server-specific access control information
administrators.pwd On Netscape servers only. Encrypted names and passwords of administrators.
authors.pwd On Netscape servers only. Encrypted names and passwords of authors.
bots.cnf Used for custom WebBot components created using the FrontPage SDK.
botinfs.cnf Custom FrontPage (WebBot ) components information listing
deptodoc.btr Dependency database for the web.
doctodep.btr Dependency database for the web.
frontpg.lck Root Web only. Lock file to keep web server resources from being accessed simultaneously. Should be a zero-byte file at idle time. With IIS and WebSite servers, this file is located in C:\Program Files\Microsoft FrontPage\version3.0\temp, not in the web content area's _vti_pvt directory.
linkinfo.cnf Back links for URLs not in the current web.
service.cnf Contains meta-information about the web.
service.grp Lists the members of the Administrator and Author groups. Used only for CERN and NCSA servers.
service.pwd Contains the encrypted password files. Not used on IIS and WebSite servers.
Service.stp Contains the absolute file system path to the FrontPage web's service.pwd and service.grp files. Used only for CERN and NCSA servers.
services.cnf Root web only. Contains the list of sub-webs.
services.org Root web only. File used as the basis for services.cnf when reinstalling the Server Extensions, so that sub-webs are recreated as sub-webs instead of as subdirectories of the root web.
service.lck Lock file to keep web resources from being accessed simultaneously. Should be a zero-byte file at idle time.
structure.cnf Contains FrontPage web navigational information storage.
svcacl.cnf Root web only. File used to store whether sub-webs have unique permissions settings and any IP Address restrictions, so that when reinstalling the Server Extensions the correct permissions settings are reapplied to any sub-webs.
users.pwd On Netscape servers only. Encrypted names and passwords of end-users.
uniqueperm.cnf Used on IIS only. The presence of this file indicates that the sub-web has unique permissions settings, as opposed to inheriting permissions from the root web. Present only in sub-webs.
writeto.cnf Back links for files that can be written to by users of the web, such as Save Results Form handler result files. Files that can be written to by users of the web have a looser security setting than regular web content.
_vti_map Contains image map files.
_vti_txt This folder contains text indices for the WAIS search engine only. It is not used by Index Server on IIS.

FrontPage also includes Server Extensions configuration files. See Using the FrontPage Configuration File for details on Server Extensions configuration files naming convention and file locations.

Subsystem Definition Affected Stores
Document parsing and attribute discovery Document parser plus title, base, link extractor
  • _vti_cnf, link map
  • content (read only)
  • _vti_txt
Document expansion Bot expansion, themes, borders,URL macros, link fix-up, taking page styles from other pages
  • _vti_cnf
  • link map
  • service.cnf (read)
  • deptodoc, doctodep
  • structure store (read)
  • bot meta-info (read)
  • _themes
  • content
  • _vti_map
  • _overlay (read)
  • frontpg.ini (read)
Source control VSS integration
  • VSS database
  • content
  • _vti_cnf
  • service.cnf
  • structure.cnf
  • _overlay
Structure store Web structure store
  • structure store
  • content
  • _vti_cnf
  • trigger dependency recalculation
Access control Setting permissions on web
  • svcacl.cnf, access.cnf
  • content
  • web server config (read)
Todo list Todo list
  • to do list
File system management Generic reading, writing, etc. of files
  • content
  • trigger dependency recalculation
  • _vti_cnf
Meta-info store Combined meta-information stores
  • _vti_cnf
  • service.cnf
  • frontpg.ini (read)
  • trigger dependency recalculation
Dependency management Managing relationships between documents, structure store, time, meta-info, etc.
  • _vti_cnf
  • deptodoc, doctodep
  • service.cnf (autorecalc bit)
Text indexing/searching Internal WAIS text index
  • service.cnf
  • frontpg.ini (read)
  • _vti_txt
Logging Only author and admin ops
  • _vti_log
"Open bot" management Install and execution of open bots
  • bots.cnf (read)
  • botinfs.cnf (read)
  • _vti_bot (read)
Web server management Marking folders as executable, readable, etc. Getting URL to file mappings, etc.
  • frontpg.ini (read)
  • web server configuration
Locking Internal based, not user driven
  • _vti_pvt/service.lck