PageMethod 404 only on deployed website under XP/IIS 5.1. What security settings should I be aware of?

Question

Been trouble-shooting this for a few days now and have basically run dry of leads.

Here's the code:

[WebMethod]
public static bool EnableEditMode()
{
    bool successful = false;

    try
    {
        GlobalSettings globalSettings = StateManager.GetStates<GlobalSettings>();
        globalSettings.EditModeEnabled = true;
        StateManager.SaveGlobalSettings(globalSettings);
        successful = true;
    }
    catch (Exception exception)
    {
        _logger.ErrorFormat("Unable to enable edit mode. Reason: {0}", exception.Message);
    }

    return successful;
}

function EnableEditMode() {
    $.ajax({
        type: "POST",
        url: "Dashboard.aspx/EnableEditMode",
        data: "{}",
        contentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8",
        dataType: "json",
        success: function (result) {
            if( result ) {
                $find(window.leftPaneID).expand(1);
                $('#' + window.startEditButtonID).hide();
                $('#' + window.finishEditButtonID).show();
            }
        }
    });
}

Here's the error message:

Failed to load resource: the server responded with a status of 404 (Not Found) http://localhost/csweb/Dashboard/Dashboard.aspx/EnableEditMode

Here's what I've tried:

• Ensured that I am update-to-date with Windows Updates. Source

• I removed 'EnablePageMethods = True' from my ScriptManager and started using a jquery ajax POST to execute the code. Nothing broke when I did this, the headers changed slightly, but nothing was fixed.

• I tried using <%= ResolveUrl("~/Dashboard/Dashboard.aspx") %>, but the path did not change and I did not notice an effect, so I removed the code. Source

• I went into my web.config file and removed the following according to Source:

  <authorization>
      <deny users="?"/>
  </authorization>
  

• I've ensured that the file is not ReadOnly and granted full-control permissions on the file and parent-folders for all relevant users on the system. (Not a live system so no worries.. just playing around).

• I diff'ed the request headers between my working development and non-working deployment -- I saw no differences in the request headers.

• I ran Permission Wizard on the website, indicated I wished to have the website security settings of a publicly-viewed website, and applied to all folders replacing current security settings. No effect.

• Added .json // application/json MIME type, no effect, but I left it in since it seemed useful.

At this point I am suiting up to trek into the abyss of settings which is IIS. I am not very familiar with IIS 5.1, though. So, I am wondering if there are any specific spots I should start looking?

I found the reason, but I am working on figuring out how to fix it. I have an ASP.NET AJAX application integrated into an MVC solution. The MVC side of things is picking up the PageMethod and not handling it properly, but only under IIS 5.1:

[HttpException]: The controller for path '/csweb/Dashboard/Dashboard.aspx/EnableEditMode' was not found or does not implement IController.

Answer 1

Are you using ASP.NET MVC? You may need [AcceptVerbs ("POST")] on EnableEditMode().

Also, could you try just printing out (or debugging and viewing) the results of:

var pageURL = "<%= ResolveUrl("~/Dashboard/Dashboard.aspx") %>
var pageURL2 = "<%= ResolveUrl("~") %>