Running ASP.NET 1.1 on Windows Server 2008 R2

Although this configuration works on Windows Server 2008 R2, it is unsupported by Microsoft. Use at your own risk.

Use these steps to install ASP.NET 1.1 on either Windows Server 2008 x64 SP2, or Windows Server 2008 R2.

Short version:

  1. Follow all of the steps in How to install ASP.NET 1.1 with IIS7 on Vista and Windows 2008
  2. Then implement this workaround for an acknowledged bug: Workaround: Running ASP.NET 1.1 on Vista SP2/WS08 SP2

My summary:

  1. Ensure that the “IIS Metabase Compatibility” Role Feature is installed in IIS
  2. Download and install:
  3. Make sure ASP.NET 1.1 is enabled under ISAPI and CGI Restrictions
    • In my experience, this has already been enabled after installation
  4. Add this IgnoreSection handler to the <configSections> element on the .NET 1.1 machine.config, located in %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\CONFIG
    • <section name="system.webServer" type="System.Configuration.IgnoreSectionHandler,
          System, Version=1.0.5000.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" />
      </configSections>

      
      
  5. Create directory named v1.1.4322 under %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64
  6. Create directory named CONFIG under %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v1.1.4322
  7. Copy the contents of %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\CONFIG to %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v1.1.4322\CONFIG
  8. Create a new application pool that uses .NET Framework v1.1.4322. Ensure that the “Enable 32-bit Applications” attribute is enabled for the application pool, since ASP.NET 1.1 is 32-bit only.
  9. Assign your .NET 1.1 application to use your new .NET 1.1 application pool
    • If you use a different process identity for your application pool, ensure that the account you use is in the IIS_WPG group. The .NET 1.1 installer creates the IIS_WPG group and uses it to assign permissions in the file system. It has no knowledge of the newer IIS_IUSRS group.

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