PRB: "Unable to Contact Web Server" Error When Creating New Visual InterDev 6 Project

ID: Q220166

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

When you are creating a new Visual InterDev 6.0 project, the following error may occur:

Unable to contact web server


CAUSE

This error indicates that Visual InterDev cannot establish a connection to the FrontPage Server Extensions on the Web server. There are several reasons you may receive this error.


RESOLUTION

One or more of the following troubleshooting steps often resolves this issue:

  1. Ensure the Web server is installed correctly and running by opening any page on the server with a browser.


  2. Ensure the FrontPage Server Extensions are installed. Browse to http://<server name>/_vti_bin/shtml.dll. You should see one of the two error messages shown below.

    FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions:
    Cannot run the FrontPage Server Extensions' Smart HTML interpreter on this non-HTML page: ""
    FrontPage 98 Server Extensions:
    FrontPage Error.
    User: please report details to this site's webmaster.
    Webmaster: please see the server's application event log for more details.
    This indicates that the FrontPage Server Extensions have been installed.


  3. Browse http://<server name>/_vti_inf.html. You should see a page with the heading "FrontPage Configuration Information." View the source of this page. The version of the FrontPage extensions appears after "FPVersion=" and should be at least 4.0.2.2717, indicating that the server is running the most recent version of the Server Extensions (FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions). Download the most recent version of the Server Extensions from http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/languages/fp/2000/winfpse.asp


  4. Run the Check Server Extensions utility for the FrontPage Server Extensions. This can replace missing DLLs, files, and fix permissions problems. To check server extensions for the FrontPage 2000 Server Extensions, start the Microsoft Management Console, right-click the Web site, and select Task and click Check Server Extensions.


  5. Turn off proxy settings in Visual InterDev if you're not accessing the Web server through a proxy server. Proxy servers can interfere with Windows NT Challenge/Response authentication. From the Visual InterDev Tools menu, select Options, and click Projects. Then click Web Proxy Settings. Clear the Use System Settings checkbox. If the proxy is needed for some sites, use the Exceptions dialog box in Visual InterDev.


  6. Use the Tcptest.exe utility to check basic WinSock32 functionality. This utility installs with FrontPage98 in the <drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft FrontPage\Tcptest.exe. Each item selected should return YES.


  7. Try entering ServerName:PortNumber. For instance, use myserver:80 or www.myserver.com:80, where 80 is the port number the Web server is installed on (80 is the default port for a Web server). Ensure the Web server is not configured on a different port number. If this successfully connects, it is possible that a different default port number was being used. Connecting successfully sometimes changes the default such that the port number is then no longer needed.


  8. Refresh the installation of key DLLs. Sometimes key DLLs that enable Visual InterDev to connect to the FrontPage Server Extension can get unregistered. Installing or re-installing the FrontPage 98 client can often refresh these registrations and allow Visual InterDev to connect. Reinstalling Visual InterDev will not re-register the files because Visual InterDev checks for the existence of the DLLs and assumes they are registered if they are found on the machine. FrontPage 98 comes with Visual InterDev 6.0 and can be found in the FrontPage folder on the CD.


  9. Check for the existence of the FrontPage Personal Web Server. Look for a C:\Frontpagewebs\Server folder. If it exists, Personal Web Server and the FrontPage Personal Web Server may be competing for the same HTTP port. You can uninstall the FrontPage Personal Web Server by deleting the C:\Frontpagewebs\Server folder.



REFERENCES

For more information, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q192638 PRB: Web Server Related Errors On Multi-Processor Machine

Q195954 PRB: 'Unable to Contact Web Server' Error Creating New Project

Q194798 PRB: Cannot Create Disk-based Web App or Unable to Contact Web

Additional query words: 


Keywords          : kbConfig kbExtension kbFrontPage kbServer kbVisID600 kbGrpASP kbDSupport kbFPServX 
Version           : WINDOWS:6.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbprb

Last Reviewed: July 21, 1999