Information Technology Knowledge Base

IIS 6 has by default parent paths disallowed. These settings are required to use relative paths in virtual includes.

Parent paths allow you to use ‘..’ when browsing directories and MapPaths etc enabling files in the parent directory to be used.

To enable parent paths:

• Start the Internet Services Manager (Start - Programs - Administrative Tools - Internet Services Manager)
• Right click on the web site and select properties
• Select the ‘Home Directory’ tab
• Click the ‘Configuration’ button under the Application Settings
• Select the ‘App Options’ tab
• Check the ‘Enable parent paths’ box and click Apply

You don’t need to restart the service for the change to take effect.