"Cannot create the offline cache" error message when you try to create an ASP.NET Web Application project

When you try to create a Microsoft ASP.NET Web Application project or an ASP.NET Web Service project, you may receive the following error message:Note UserName is a placeholder for your user name, ServerName is a placeholder for the name of your Web server, and ProjectName is a placeholder for the name of your project.

Note The word "web" should be "Web" in this error message.

If the root folder of your hard disk drive (such as drive C) that contains the Microsoft Windows folder contains Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions (FPSE) folders (such as _vti_pvt and _private), FPSE assumes that the whole hard disk drive is a server-based Web. Therefore, you cannot create any disk-based Webs in the hard disk drive with FPSE.

To resolve this problem, delete all FPSE folders (such as _vti_pvt and _private) from the root folder of your hard disk drive (such as drive C).

This behavior is by design.

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Verify that the root folder of your hard disk drive (such as drive C) that contains the Windows folder contains FPSE folders (such as _vti_pvt and _private).
2. If the root folder of your hard disk drive does not contain FPSE folders, copy the _vpi_pvt folder and the _private folder from the C:\Intepub\wwwroot\ folder to the root folder of your hard disk drive.
3. Try to create an ASP.NET Web Application project. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Start Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.
   2. On the File menu, point to New, and then click Project.
   3. Under Project Types, click Visual Basic Projects or click Visual C# Projects.
   4. Under Templates, click ASP.NET Web Application.
   5. In the Location box, type http://ServerName/ProjectFPSE1.
      
      Notes
      • ServerName is a placeholder for the name of your Web server.
      • ProjectFPSE1 is a sample ASP.NET Web Application project.
   6. Click OK.
      
      You may notice the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: