IIS6 pulls a WTF

travisowens

So here I am, needing to duplicate a 2003/IIS6 website, so besides carrying over all the web content, I need to copy over the HTTP configuration too. No big deal, just stop the web service, replace the MetaBase.XML file on the new server and start up the services again. So here we go.

Ok so I cannot simply start all the services with IISRESET, that's fair. So I'll just start the services manually, the same way I stopped them, via NET START.



Hmm, ok so there's a problem, I don't know why but hey look, it's smart enough to give me an error code an how to lookup the error code in the command line. Nice, it would have helped if it just spit out the error this other command gives me buy hey, no problem.

 
Hmm, how delightfully useless. Looks like filling the error codes wasn't that important and obviously didn't make deadline.

Albatross

That's why you don't manually stop services on anything as insanly complicated and Microsoftish as IIS6. Use the admin console to stop all of the running websites, then do your copying of files. When you're done, start them again.

jsmith

You don't really expect net.exe you give you help on every service it's supposed to start do you? Then should Explorer.exe give you help on everything you could possibly click on? Should IE give you help on every page on the Internet? Sure, the way it didn't give help is a little cryptic. But that's because the tool is 20 years old and that's the same message that you get when net.exe encounters many errors. It's not a great message, but those looking for a polished interface should use the "Services" administrative tool.

The message you are looking at is a holdover from the 80s, back when net.exe was the client for all MS LAN Manager networking functions. Microsoft has left it essentially the same so that they didn't break people's batch files, just added some new stuff where appropriate.

travisowens

You would have a point, but you seem to have missed the fact that it DOES give me a specific error code, which is totally blank.

Despite, I obviously got the problem resolved shortly afterword thanks to a littile Googling.