Windows NT File System Security and WWW Browsing

 Last reviewed: July 27, 1995
Article ID: Q133202
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows NT Server version 3.51

SUMMARY

When you use Windows NT as your HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Server, you cannot effectively use Windows NT file system (NTFS) permissions to secure access to files when they are accessed from a World Wide Web browser.

MORE INFORMATION

If your HTTP Server has HyperText Markup Language (HTML) documents on an NTFS-formatted drive, the document files need to have permissions assigned to the SYSTEM account to allow client Web browsers to read the files. If you use a Web browser to access a file that has been given the No Access permission for SYSTEM, or does not have any access permissions, an error similar to the following appears: 

   HTAccess: Error accessing "http://server/file.htm":
   "HTTP: File/directory does not exist"
The exact error message text varies depending on the client browser software.

As long as the file has the Read permission granted to the SYSTEM account, which is part of the Everyone group, Web browsers will be able to read the file.

This information is based on the HTTP Server version 0.94 from the European Microsoft Windows NT Academic Centre (EMWAC) and NCSA Mosaic for Windows version 2.0 Final Beta. These products are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.

KBCategory: kbnetwork kb3rdparty
KBSubcategory: ntsecurity ntfilesys
Additional reference words: HTM internet 3.51 prodnt

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Last reviewed: July 27, 1995
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