Global ASA Not Firing When Visual InterDev Made IIS 4.0 Application

After creating a new application with Visual InterDev on Internet Information Server 4.0 (IIS), the code in the Global.asa for this application does not execute. A common symptom is while an administrator is logged into the IIS 4.0 computer, applications are created successfully, and when an administrator is not logged into the IIS computer, projects are not created as applications.

If the virtual directory that contains the Global.asa is not set as an Application Root, the code in the Global.asa will not be executed. Visual InterDev will be unable to create an application root if the Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS) system package logon identity is set to "Interactive user - the current logged on user" and no one is currently logged on or the current logged on does not have the proper permissions to create an MTS package.

During the installation of Internet Information Server 4.0, a user can specify the account for MTS sessions to run under. By default, the Interactive User is specified. What this means is that when there is no Interactive User (for example, an administrator is not logged onto the Web server), administrative operations that require authentication, such as creating an Application Root, fail.

Use the following steps to resolve existing problems:

1. Bring up the Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
2. Right-click the directory that contains the Global.asa that is not firing and select "properties."
3. Select the Directory or Virtual Directory tab.
4. Click the Create button to establish this directory as an application root.

While the above steps will resolve existing problems, you can use the following steps to prevent future problems:

1. Bring up the MMC for the server.
2. Expand "Microsoft Transaction Server."
3. Expand "Computers."
4. Expand "My Computer."
5. Expand "Packages Installed."
6. Right-click "System" and bring up the Property page.
7. On the Identity tab, change from the interactive user to a user that is an administrator* on the machine.
8. Close the Property page.
9. Reboot.

*Following are steps to create an account to use for the MTS System Package:

Follow these steps to use the user manager:

1. Create a new local group and name it MTS Administrators.
2. Create a new user and name it MTS Administrator.
3. Make the new user a member of the both the Administrators group and the MTS Administrators group,
4. Give the new user the advanced user right to log on as a service.

For more information on how to configure the system package account, see the Internet Information Server 4.0 product documentation under Getting Started Release Notes for Microsoft Transaction Server

For more information about application settings, see the "Configuring Applications" topic in the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack online documentation.

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