HOWTO: Launching LocalServer Components(EXEs) from ASP (IIS 3.0)

• Microsoft Active Server Pages, versions 1.0, 1.0b

SUMMARY

Although most ActiveX Server components are DLLs, it is sometimes necessary to launch an EXE from Active Server Pages (ASP). When Server.CreateObject is used to launch an EXE, an error similar to the following may occur:

   --
   Server object error 'ASP 0196'

   Cannot launch out of process component

   /myvroot/launch_exe.asp, line 5

   Only InProc server components should be used. If you want to use
   LocalServer components, you must set the AllowOutOfProcCmpnts registry
   setting. Please consult the readme file for important considerations.
   --

MORE INFORMATION

This error is the result of a safety mechanism in ASP that prevents the launching of LocalServer components. This mechanism is in place because there are security concerns you should consider when launching out of process components. In addition to the security concerns, DLLs are also preferred because of their performance benefits over EXEs.

To override this safety mechanism, you must set the AllowOutOfProcCmpnts registry value to 1. This registry value is located at the following path:

   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM
   \CurrentControlSet
    \Services
     \W3SVC
      \ASP
       \Parameters

1. Select Run from the Start menu.

2. Type "regedit" into the Open window.

3. Navigate to the path defined above.

4. Double-click on the AllowOutOfProcCmpnts value and change the value to 1.

REFERENCES

For more information on the issues surrounding launching LocalServers from ASP, refer to the IIS 3.0 Release Notes under the "Known Issues" section.

For the latest Knowledge Base artices and other support information on Visual InterDev and Active Server Pages, see the following page on the Microsoft Technical Support site:

   http://support.microsoft.com/support/vinterdev/

Keywords          : AXSFCustControl kberrmsg
Technology        : kbInetDev
Version           : WINNT:1.0,1.0b
Platform          : winnt
Issue type        : kbhowto