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Error message when you visit a Web site that is hosted on IIS 7.0: "HTTP Error 404.5 – URL Sequence Denied"

Article ID: 942053 - View products that this article applies to.

SYMPTOMS

You have a Web site that is hosted on Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.0. When you visit the Web site in a Web browser, you may receive an error message that resembles the following:

Server Error in Application "application name"
HTTP Error 404.5 – URL Sequence Denied
HRESULT: 0
Description of HRESULT # The operation completed successfully.

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CAUSE

This problem occurs because the requested URL matches the sequence in the <denyUrlSequences> node in the ApplicationHost.config file.

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To resolve this problem, follow these steps:

Click Start, type Notepad in the Start Search box, right-click Notepad, and then click Run as administrator.

Note If you are prompted for an administrator password or for a confirmation, type the password, or click Continue.
On the File menu, click Open, type %windir%\System32\inetsrv\config\applicationHost.config in the File name box, and then click Open.
In the ApplicationHost.config file, locate the <denyUrlSequences> node.
Delete the sequence that matches the requested URL.

For example, delete the code that resembles the following.
<add sequence=”<sequence>” />
Note <Sequence> is a placeholder for the sequence that matches the requested URL.
Save the ApplicationHost.config file.