Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Why window authentication does not prompt credential dialog

Problem:I created a website (which has only a default.htm for testing purpose) and enabled window authentication by doing:
(1) Enable window authentication in IIS;
(2) Disable anonymous access in IIS;
However, there is no credential dialog popping up when I visit default.htm.

Solution: here is how to debug.
Windows Integrated Authentication will be silently submitted by Internet Explorer if the web server challenges the user.

Looking at your web logs (C:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\W3SVC1) for the website, you should see one or two 401s before a 200 response containing the username - this means it is working.

If you do not, and only ever see blank-username 200s, authentication isn't configured correctly yet.

If you desire a prompt, disable IE's Automatic Logon settings in Internet Options -> Security tab -> Custom level.

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