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PRB: Error "Page Cannot Be Displayed" When You Connect Through HTTPS

Article ID: 290391 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q290391

SYMPTOMS

When you try to connect to a site that is hosted on the Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0 through the HTTPS protocol, you may receive the following error message:

The page cannot be displayed.
...
...
Cannot find server or DNS Error.

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This problem occurs because, on a standard installation, the default Web site is always bound to the Internet Protocol (IP) address and the port combination of "All Unassigned:443" for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), even though you do not have a certificate bound to the site.

This problem can occur when another Web site on the server has a certificate bound to it and is listening on the IP address and port combination of "All Unassigned:443" for SSL requests. As a result, when a request comes in for a page over HTTPS, the request goes to the default Web site instead of the intended site because the default Web site is also listening on port 443 on "All Unassigned". In addition, because the default Web site does not have an SSL certificate, it displays the "Page cannot be displayed" error message.

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RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, remove the binding of port 443 from the default Web site to allow the intended site to respond to requests that come over HTTPS. To do this, follow these steps:

On the server, at a command prompt, type the following command to change to the Adminscripts directory:
cd c:\inetpub\adminscripts
At a command prompt, type the following command to look at the SSL binding for the default Web site:
adsutil get w3svc/1/SecureBindings
This should return the following output (or similar):
```
SecureBindings                  : (LIST) ":443"
						
```
At a command prompt, type the following command to set the SSL binding to null:
adsutil set w3svc/1/SecureBindings ""
In the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), right-click the computer name, and then click Restart IIS. The page should be displayed properly, and the site should be accessible without any problems.

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MORE INFORMATION

For additional information about using SSL with IIS, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

260096

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/260096/EN-US/ )

Page Cannot Be Displayed When You Connect Through SSL

187504

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/187504/EN-US/ )

IIS: HTTP 1.1 Host Headers Not Supported When Using SSL

265847

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/265847/EN-US/ )

Error Message: The Page Cannot Be Displayed . . . Cannot Find Server or DNS Error

228836

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/228836/EN-US/ )

Installing a New Certificate with Certificate Wizard for Use in SSL/TLS

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Properties

Article ID: 290391 - Last Review: November 21, 2006 - Revision: 1.2

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0

kbpending kbprb KB290391

Retired KB Content Disclaimer

This article was written about products for which Microsoft no longer offers support. Therefore, this article is offered "as is" and will no longer be updated.

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