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Modify the IIS Metabase Directly

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 with SP1

If you need to modify the Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase, you can do so directly in the Metabase.xml file by using a text editor. Before you can modify the Metabase .xml file, you must enable the edit-while-running feature of the metabase by using IIS Manager. Once you have made your changes and saved the Metabase.xml file, disable the edit-while-running feature of the metabase. To implement changes to some metabase properties, you might need to restart the server.

Requirements

  • Credentials: Membership in the Administrators group on the local computer.

  • Tools: Iis.msc.

Recommendation

As a security best practice, log on to your computer using an account that is not in the Administrators group, and then use the Run as command to run IIS Manager as an administrator. At the command prompt, type **runas /user:**administrative_accountname mmc %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\iis.msc.

Procedures

To enable the edit-while running feature of the metabase by using IIS Manager

  1. In IIS Manager, right-click the local computer, and then click Properties.

  2. Select the Enable Direct Metabase Edit check box, and then click OK.

To modify the IIS metabase

  1. Open the Metabase.xml file in a text editor. The default path to this file is systemroot**\system32\inetserv\metabase.xml**

  2. Modify the metabase properties that you wish to change in the Metabase.xml file.

  3. Save the changes to the file, and close the text editor.

Most changes to metabase properties are automatically recognized by IIS; in some cases, you must restart IIS for the metabase property changes to go into effect.

To disable the Edit-while running feature of the metabase by using IIS Manager

  1. In IIS Manager, right-click the local computer, and then click Properties.

  2. Clear the Enable Direct Metabase Edit check box, and then click OK.