URLs that contain certain encoded characters may be denied when ISA Server 2004 is installed on a non-English version of Windows

When Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2004 is installed on a non-English version of Windows, URLs that contain certain encoded characters may be denied.

This problem may occur when the encoded character is not present in the system ANSI code page. In this situation, converting the URL to a Unicode string fails.

The Windows locale controls which code page is used. Therefore, some encoded URLs work only in some locales.

This fix applies only if the following conditions are true:

• The firewall policy includes no Web publishing rules.
• No caching rule applies to a specific URL.

For example, this fix does not apply if you enable a Microsoft Update caching rule.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for ISA Server 2004. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

To resolve this problem in ISA Server 2004, Enterprise Edition, you can install the following hotfix.

Note You cannot apply this hotfix to resolve this problem in ISA Server 2004, Standard Edition.

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, it is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next ISA Server 2004 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Customer Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

Prerequisites

To apply this hotfix, you must have ISA Server 2004 Service Pack 2 installed.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix. However, the installation program restarts ISA services as required.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English (US) version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in ISA Server 2004 Service Pack 3.