IIS: Publish Windows Share to WebDAV site

Publishing local folders as WebDAV site is very easy with IIS. There is plenty of help available that.

BUT there is not much help on publishing a Windows share via WebDAV. So I decided to publish one after we successfully published it at my work. It works beautifully.

One Liner: The trick is to replace ApplicationPoolIdentity (by default it is IIS_IUSRS local group on the server) and use different Application Pool.

More info about IIS_IUSRS local group is here: http://www.iis.net/learn/get-started/planning-for-security/understanding-built-in-user-and-group-accounts-in-iis

Step by Step instructions: (for Windows Server 2012 R2)

1. Create or find an service account in your Active Directory domain. (e.g., Contoso\svc-webdav )
2. Give the service account at least read permissions for the whole Windows Share. My case I gave modify permissions for my NetApp CIFS share.
3. Logon to the Web server and open IIS Administration Console.
4. Go to Application Pools section and create a new application pool by clicking Add Application Pool… on the Actions pane.
5. Open Basic Settings of the newly created Application Pool. Change the Managed pipeline mode to Classic.

6. Open Advanced Settings of the same new Application Pool. Find Identity under Process Model. Change ApplicationPoolIdentity with the chosen service account (e.g., CONTOSO\svc-webdav)

7. Create a new Virtual Site and Open Basic settings of the virtual site. Type the Windows Share path in Physical path text box. click Test Settings… button. Click OK to close the dialog box.

8. If you are hosting HTTPS site, select Basic authentication. If you are not using HTTPS, select Windows Authentication for the HTTP site.

9. Enable WebDAV at Root of the site (e.g., Default Site) at WebDAV Authoring Rules. (click on Enable WebDAV on the action pane)

10. Enable Directory Browsing on the Virtual Site settings.

That’s all. Try accessing your WebDAV folder from the client. You may have to enter your user name/password to enter to the site. Enjoy and leave me a reply if it helped you.