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  2. You may receive a "The system cannot find the path specified" error message when you try to open Internet Services Manager or an MMC snap-in on a computer that is running IIS 5.0

You may receive a "The system cannot find the path specified" error message when you try to open Internet Services Manager or an MMC snap-in on a computer that is running IIS 5.0

Symptoms

When you try to open Internet Services Manager (ISM) or a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in on a computer that is running Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0 (IIS), you may receive an error message that is similar to the following:
Error connecting to ServerName:
The system cannot find the path specified.
Do you wish to continue to attempt to connect to this server in the future?
Note ServerName is the name of the server that is running IIS.

If you click Yes, the name of the server does not appear in ISM or in the MMC, and you cannot configure any Web sites. Additionally, Microsoft FrontPage server extensions and Web publishing may not work as expected.

You experience these symptoms even though all existing Web sites start and work as expected.

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Cause

This issue occurs if the configuration information in the IIS metabase does not match the services that are installed on the computer. This issue is known to occur if the following conditions are true:
  • The FTP Publishing Service is installed on the computer.
  • The IIS metabase contains no configuration information for the FTP Publishing Service.

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Resolution

To resolve this issue, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Use the Adsutil.vbs utility to determine the services that are configured in the metabase

To use the Adsutil.vbs utility to determine the services that are configured in the IIS metabase, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, click Run, type Services.msc, and then click OK.
  2. In the Services snap-in, under Name, verify the IIS services that are installed on the computer.
  3. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
  4. At the command prompt, type the following command, where HardDisk is the hard disk where IIS is installed:
    cd HardDisk\inetpub\adminscripts
  5. To verify that an IIS service is configured in the metabase, type the following command at the command prompt, where ServiceName is the IIS service that you want to verify in the IIS metabase:
    Adsutil.vbs enum ServiceName
    For example, to verify that the IIS metabase contains configuration information for the FTP Publishing Service, type Adsutil.vbs enum MSFTPSVC.

    If you receive an error message that is similar to the following, the IIS service may not be installed correctly:
    The path requested could not be found.
  6. After you determine the configuration differences between the information that is stored in the metabase and the services that are running on the computer, install or remove services on the computer. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. Click Start, click Run, type Appwiz.cpl, and then click OK.
    2. Double-click Add/Remove Windows Components.
    3. Double-click Internet Information Services (IIS).
    4. Click to select or click to clear the check boxes for the services that you want to configure, and then click Next.
    5. Follow the prompts on the screen to complete the Windows Components Wizard.

Method 2: Delete the registry key for the FTP Publishing Service

To delete the registry key for the FTP Publishing Service, follow these steps:

Note Only follow these steps if the FTP Publishing Service is installed on the computer and if the IIS metabase contains no configuration information for the FTP Publishing Service.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows
  1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
  2. Locate the folder where the Adsutil.vbs file is located.
  3. To enumerate the configuration information for the FTP Publishing Service in the IIS metabase, type the following command:
    Adsutil.vbs enum MSFTPSVC
    If the IIS metabase contains no configuration information for the FTP Publishing Service or if you receive an error message, go to step 4.
  4. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
  5. Locate and then right-click the following key in the registry:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\INetMgr\Parameters\AddOnServices\FTP
  6. In the right pane, right-click FTP, and then click Delete.
  7. Quit Registry Editor.

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More Information

For more information about Adsutil.vbs , click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

240225 Description of Adsutil and MetaEdit utilities used to modify the metabase

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Keywords: kbentirenet, kbtshoot, kbprb, kb

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Article Info
Article ID : 897763
Revision : 3
Created on : 3/30/2017
Published on : 3/30/2017
Exists online : False
Views : 117