Knowledge Base

You cannot connect to a document library in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 by using Windows shell commands or by using Explorer View

Article ID: 841215

Article Last Modified on 10/11/2007

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 2.0
Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure that you back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry

SYMPTOMS

You cannot access a document library on a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 Web site from a client computer that is running one of the following operating systems:

Windows Vista
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or later versions of Windows XP
The 64-bit version of Windows XP or later versions of Windows XP
Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later versions of Windows Server

This issue occurs if you use a connection method that uses Windows shell components or Explorer View. For example, you may experience one or more of the following symptoms:

If you try to map a drive to a document library by using the net use command, you are prompted to type your user name and password. After you type your user name and password, you receive the following error message:

System error 5 has occurred.
Access is denied.
If you try to view a document library by using Explorer View, you are prompted several times to type your user name and password. If you click Cancel, Explorer View displays Web folders.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if the following conditions are true:

You connect to the server that is running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 from a client computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) or a later version of Windows XP.
The server is configured to use Basic authentication.

For security purposes, Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2 disable Basic authentication in the Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) Redirector. Both Explorer View in Windows SharePoint Services and the Windows shell commands that are associated with Windows SharePoint Services use WebDAV redirector technology.

WORKAROUND

Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To work around this behavior, enable Basic authentication on the client computer. To do this, add the UseBasicAuth registry entry to the following registry subkey, and then set the entry to a non-zero value:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters

To enable Basic authentication on the client computer, follow these steps:

Click Start, and then click Run.
In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
Type UseBasicAuth, and then press ENTER.
On the Edit menu, click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.

Note Basic authentication is enabled if the UseBasicAuth registry entry is set to a non-zero value. Basic authentication is disabled if the UseBasicAuth registry entry is not present or if the UseBasicAuth registry entry is set to 0 (zero).
Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

Windows Vista

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall the operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.

To work around this behavior, enable Basic authentication on the client computer. To do this, add the BasicAuthLevel registry entry to the following registry subkey, and then set the entry to a value of 2 or more:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters

To enable Basic authentication on the client computer, follow these steps:

Click Start , type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit.exe in the Programs list.
Locate and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
Type BasicAuthLevel, and then press ENTER.
On the Edit menu, click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 2, and then click OK.

Note The mapping is as follows:
- 0 - Basic authentication disabled
- 1 - Basic authentication enabled for SSL shares only
- 2 or greater - Basic authentication enabled for SSL shares and for non-SSL shares
Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

MORE INFORMATION

WebDAV is an extension of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and includes the use of Basic authentication. Basic authentication is one form of user authentication where a user is identified to the server.

When the server is configured to use Basic authentication, the client computer transmits the users' credentials to the server. If the channel is not encrypted, such as in typical HTTP traffic, a malicious user on another computer on the network can possibly intercept the user name and password of that user.

The DAV redirector does not support encrypted HTTP, such as HTTPS or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), and transmits the users' credentials without encryption if the server supports Basic authentication.

Because a user's credentials can be sent in clear text and can be possibly compromised, Windows Vista and Windows XP SP2 include functionality that permits you to enable or to disable the use of Basic authentication by the DAV redirector.

By default, Basic authentication is disabled in Windows Vista and in Windows XP SP2. When Basic authentication is disabled, either the client computer uses a different authentication method (if the server supports a different authentication method), or the request fails.

For more information about Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet.microsoft.com/windowsserver/sharepoint/default.aspx

For more information about Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/sharepoint/bb267377.aspx

Additional query words: MOSS2007 SPS2003 WSSv2 WSSv3

Keywords: kberrmsg kbprb KB841215

Microsoft KB Archive/841215

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