BUG: ASP Pages Fail on Access to Session and Application Objects

When you try to load secure Active Server Pages (ASP files) that use Session or Application objects defined in a secure ASP Application file (Global.asa), it may fail. For example, when you try to load a page that uses a DSN string stored in the Session object to open an ADO connection, it may fail with the following error message:

This problem occurs because the Global.asa file requires anonymous access to be correctly detected and compiled on the first access by a client.

The first access by a client is always anonymous. When an anonymous request for a secure ASP file occurs, ASP fails the attempt to load the requested file; however, it tries to detect and compile the Global.asa file anyway.

ASP uses GetFileAttributes to detect the Global.asa file in a given mapped Virtual directory. Because an anonymous user does not have sufficient privilege to access a secure Global.asa file, the call to GetFileAttributes fails with an Access Denied error message. Because the call to GetFileAttributes failed, ASP assumes no Global.asa file exists in the mapped virtual root and does not attempt to load and compile the global.asa file.

ASP files that use Session and Application objects defined in a secure Global.asa file fail because the Global.asa file never gets compiled. All values and objects that would have been created in the Global.asa file are not available.

The Asp.dll file was modified to load and compile the Global.asa file after client authentication has been granted.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft Active Server Pages version 1.0b. A supported fix is now available, but is not fully regression-tested and should be applied only to systems experiencing this specific problem. Unless you are severely impacted by this specific problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Service Pack that contains this fix. Contact Microsoft Product Support Services for more information. This behavior is by design.

For the latest Knowledge Base articles and other support information on Visual InterDev and Active Server Pages, see the following page on the Microsoft Technical Support site: