You cannot view Web pages that are hosted on a Web server that you upgraded from Windows XP SP2 to Windows Vista, and you receive an HTTP 404 error message

After you upgrade a Web server from Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) to Windows Vista and Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0, you cannot view Web pages that are hosted on the Web server. When this problem occurs, you receive an error message in the Web browser that resembles the following:

This problem occurs when the IIS Lockdown Tool has never been run on the computer that is upgraded. In this scenario, the Vista upgrade process assumes that the Web server may have security vulnerabilities. Then, the Vista upgrade process disables the World Wide Web Publishing Service (W3svc) service during the upgrade. Therefore, you experience the symptoms that are mentioned in the "Symptoms" section.

To resolve this problem, re-enable the W3svc service.

Important Before you re-enable the W3svc service, you may want to review the Microsoft IIS security Web page. For more information about how to enhance the security of a Web server, see the "References" section

To re-enable the W3svc service, follow these steps:

1. Click Start
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   , type services in the Start Search box, and then click Services in the Programs list.
   
   
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   If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type your password, or click Continue.
2. Locate and then double-click World Wide Web Publishing Service.
3. Under Startup type, click Automatic, and then click OK.
4. Right-click World Wide Web Publishing Service, and then click Start.

For more information about security and IIS, visit the following Microsoft Web site: