[Resolved] PHP and IIS problem

kenhess

IIS 5.0 is installed on a Windows 2000 Server and I installed PHP 4.3.3.

PHP works with one exception.

If I put the following in a virtual site directory with scripts only or scripts and executables ...I get nothing.

<? system("ls"); ?>

This works on 4 or 5 other servers, but there are two...of course, the most important two, that it does not work on.

It does work at the command line with:

php listdir.php

I know it is an IIS problem, but I have looked and looked and they seem to be setup the same as the working ones.

mtimdog

Are those servers running in safe_mode or is the system() command not allowed??

kenhess

No, all that is fine. I found the answer and would like to post it here for others to use...it would be nice if it were a STICKY so others won't have to search so much like I did.

SYMPTOMS
When you use anonymous authentication and you call external programs =
(including PHP programs) from Common Gateway Interface (CGI) code, the =
operation may fail.=20
CAUSE
In Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, the IUSR<computer_name> =
(anonymous) account does not have the necessary file system permissions =
to run executable programs in the %windir%\System32 folder by default. =
This denial can cause CGI code that attempts to run these external =
programs in the anonymous security context to fail.=20
RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, grant the IUSR<computer_name> account (or the =
specific account that is being used as the anonymous identity) Read and =
Execute access to any program or command-line tool (such as Cmd.exe) =
that is necessary for the application to function correctly.=20

The resolution is to give the IUSR_computer_name read and execute =
permission to c:\winnt\system32\cmd.exe