HTTP 403 Forbidden

  • Thread starter Thread starter johnthebaptist
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johnthebaptist

Running Office Standard 2007 on Vista Home Basic.

Until August 15 I had no trouble reaching IE. It's Version 7, I think, but
the error prevents me from confirming.

Then I installed Vista Service Pack 1 with IIS Diagnostic Toolkit January
2006 (x86). Now when I try to launch IE from my desktop or taskbar I get the
error message "HTTP 403 Forbidden." The explanation is that though the server
could be reached my login was rejected. No reason why is offered. Login for
IE? as of August 15?

My email and Favorites work, and I can Google from any Favorite Web site.
Also I am four users on this computer, and only my default user has this
problem.

I don't find the IIS Diagnostic Toolkit user friendly. Fix, anyone?
 
johnthebaptist said:
Running Office Standard 2007 on Vista Home Basic.

Until August 15 I had no trouble reaching IE. It's Version 7, I think, but
the error prevents me from confirming.

Then I installed Vista Service Pack 1 with IIS Diagnostic Toolkit January
2006 (x86). Now when I try to launch IE from my desktop or taskbar I get the
error message "HTTP 403 Forbidden." The explanation is that though the server
could be reached my login was rejected. No reason why is offered. Login for
IE? as of August 15?

My email and Favorites work, and I can Google from any Favorite Web site.
Also I am four users on this computer, and only my default user has this
problem.

I don't find the IIS Diagnostic Toolkit user friendly. Fix, anyone?
Click to expand...





It sounds like something changed your Internet Explorer Home page when u made those changes.

In internet explorer, click Tools and goto Internet Options

in homepage, type in www.google.com (or whatever u want)

click apply, then ok

then exit internet explorer, and load it from desktop like normal. Shud now work


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johnthebaptist said:
Running Office Standard 2007 on Vista Home Basic.

Until August 15 I had no trouble reaching IE. It's Version 7, I think, but
the error prevents me from confirming.

Then I installed Vista Service Pack 1 with IIS Diagnostic Toolkit January
2006 (x86). Now when I try to launch IE from my desktop or taskbar I get
the
error message "HTTP 403 Forbidden." The explanation is that though the
server
could be reached my login was rejected. No reason why is offered. Login
for
IE? as of August 15?

My email and Favorites work, and I can Google from any Favorite Web site.
Also I am four users on this computer, and only my default user has this
problem.

I don't find the IIS Diagnostic Toolkit user friendly. Fix, anyone?
Click to expand...

Click Start. In the Search box on the bottom left type
http://www.fjsmjs.com
and press Enter. Does it reach the site?
 
johnthebaptist said:
Running Office Standard 2007 on Vista Home Basic.

Until August 15 I had no trouble reaching IE. It's Version 7, I think, but
the error prevents me from confirming.
Click to expand...


No, it doesn't. You can still click Help > About Internet Explorer,
regardless of whether or not you've been allowed to open any given web
page..

Then I installed Vista Service Pack 1 with IIS Diagnostic Toolkit January
2006 (x86). Now when I try to launch IE from my desktop or taskbar I get the
error message "HTTP 403 Forbidden." The explanation is that though the server
could be reached my login was rejected. No reason why is offered.
Click to expand...


Reason? The error is about as self-explanatory as it can be made.
Read the text below the header. You (specifically, the account with
which you're logged into the computer) don't have permission to view the
web site you're trying to access.

Login for
IE? as of August 15?
Click to expand...

No, that would be the "login" for the default home page at which you've
set IE to automatically start when you open the browser.

My email and Favorites work, and I can Google from any Favorite Web site.
Also I am four users on this computer, and only my default user has this
problem.

I don't find the IIS Diagnostic Toolkit user friendly. Fix, anyone?
Click to expand...


Change your default IE home Page to a web site to which you do have access.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
Thank you, Frank Saunders. GOTO the end below.

Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE said:
Click Start. In the Search box on the bottom left type
http://www.fjsmjs.com
and press Enter. Does it reach the site?
Click to expand...

Yes, entering your URL and pressing Enter did reach your site.

Your link under Internet Explorer > Home Page (can't change) lists a number
of security programs I'm not using. Besides Windows Defender I have Trend
Micro Plus AntiSpyware 2008. Where to from here?
 
Thank you, Bruce Chambers.

Bruce Chambers said:
No, it doesn't. You can still click Help > About Internet Explorer,
regardless of whether or not you've been allowed to open any given web
page..
Click to expand...
I've gone to Start > Help and Support > About Internet Explorer > Find out
which version of Internet Explorer you're using. This page provides two
steps: 1) a link "Click to open Internet Explorer" and 2) Press ALT + H and
then press About Internet Explorer.

Following the link in step 1 yields the error "HTTP 403 Forbidden."
Reason? The error is about as self-explanatory as it can be made.
Read the text below the header. You (specifically, the account with
which you're logged into the computer) don't have permission to view the
web site you're trying to access.
Click to expand...

The question is why I don't have permission to view the Web site. No reason
is offered. This silence is particularly noteworthy since I do have
permission as User 1, 3, and 4. Why is User 2 barred?
No, that would be the "login" for the default home page at which you've
set IE to automatically start when you open the browser.
Click to expand...

The question then becomes, why must I now log in for the default home page,
MSN, when I did not have to before August 15?
Change your default IE home Page to a web site to which you do have access.
Click to expand...

Three of the solutions offered so far (Rob, Max, Bruce) call for opening
Internet Explorer, which yields the error message.

Frank's site offers a different approach and may provide clues to others.

Bruce: I go along with your quotes from Ben Franklin and Bertram Russell.
As for Denis Diderot, how about Adolph Hitler as a philosopher who killed
priests? Now what priest(s) does M. Diderot name for killing philosophers?
 
Thanks, Max.

Max said:
What is your Home Page in Internet Explorer set to?
MSN

Try changing it to something else.
Click to expand...

Can't so far. I have to open IE to do that, and that move yields the error
message. See my reply to Frank.
 
Thanks, Rob.

Rob said:
It sounds like something changed your Internet Explorer Home page when u made those changes.

In internet explorer, click Tools and goto Internet Options
Click to expand...

Here's where the problem occurs. Trying to open IE yields the error. See
my dialogue with Frank Saunders.
 
johnthebaptist said:
Thank you, Frank Saunders. GOTO the end below.



Yes, entering your URL and pressing Enter did reach your site.

Your link under Internet Explorer > Home Page (can't change) lists a
number
of security programs I'm not using. Besides Windows Defender I have Trend
Micro Plus AntiSpyware 2008. Where to from here?
Click to expand...


Okay, then, we've established that IE works and the problem is probably in
the home page.

What if you disable Trend as a test?
 
Thank you, Frank.
Okay, then, we've established that IE works and the problem is probably in
the home page.

What if you disable Trend as a test?
Click to expand...

I did switch "Antivirus and Anti Spyware" OFF, leaving "Unauthorized
changes" and "Automatic updates" ON. The error persists. But the whole
sequence lasted less than a minute before I re-enabled the security setting.
Do I need to wait longer for things to happen? Do I have to turn everything
off?
 
Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE said:
What if you type
iexplore -nohome -extoff
Click to expand...

If I run this as administrator I reach the MSN home page; anything from my
default account returns the "HTTP 403 Forbidden" error.
 
johnthebaptist said:
If I run this as administrator I reach the MSN home page; anything from my
default account returns the "HTTP 403 Forbidden" error.
Click to expand...


I'm stymied.
 
johnthebaptist said:
Thank you, Bruce Chambers.


I've gone to Start > Help and Support > About Internet Explorer > Find out
which version of Internet Explorer you're using. This page provides two
steps: 1) a link "Click to open Internet Explorer" and 2) Press ALT + H and
then press About Internet Explorer.
Click to expand...

Don't look at the display pane. Use the Menu items at the top of the
screen, below the Address Bar.

Anyway, it's a moot point. If you have Vista, you have IE7. No
earlier version of IE can be installed on Vista, and no later version is
available.

Following the link in step 1 yields the error "HTTP 403 Forbidden."

The question is why I don't have permission to view the Web site. No reason
is offered. This silence is particularly noteworthy since I do have
permission as User 1, 3, and 4. Why is User 2 barred?
Click to expand...


You said nothing about different user accounts yielding different
results in your original post. However, as the IE home page settings
are unique to each user, this isn't particularly surprising. User 2
does not have permissions to view that home page.
The question then becomes, why must I now log in for the default home page,
MSN, when I did not have to before August 15?
Click to expand...


Have you verified that that is indeed the default home page for that
affected user?


Bruce: I go along with your quotes from Ben Franklin and Bertram Russell.
As for Denis Diderot, how about Adolph Hitler as a philosopher who killed
priests?
Click to expand...


You're the first person I've ever heard call Hitler a "philosopher." I
think you need to look up the meaning of the word.
Now what priest(s) does M. Diderot name for killing philosophers?
Click to expand...

Just look at the history of almost any religion. Anyone who questions
the powers-that-be are taking their lives in their hands. Some
religions even have special "departments" tasked with eradicating "heresy."


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
What if you type
I'm stymied.
Click to expand...

Here's a thought. Let me give administrator privileges to my default
account and see what happens. BRB.

No luck. My default account is now labeled "Administrator," and it still
won't get me to IE from the task bar or desktop. Meanwhile my administrator
account and my two other specialty accounts, both standard, reach the MSN
home page from the task bar/desktop.

Does this provide any useful clues?

Sending *iexplore -nohome -extoff* to my default account task bar/desktop
and pressing them returns the error.
 
johnthebaptist said:
Here's a thought. Let me give administrator privileges to my default
account and see what happens. BRB.

No luck. My default account is now labeled "Administrator," and it still
won't get me to IE from the task bar or desktop. Meanwhile my
administrator
account and my two other specialty accounts, both standard, reach the MSN
home page from the task bar/desktop.

Does this provide any useful clues?
Click to expand...

Do you actually have IIS running on that machine? Why would you being doing
something with this IIS Diagnostics tool?

You know each user gets its own profile set-up for configuration settings of
IE. It's obvious that user account and its IE settings are different for the
account that is having trouble as opposed to another user that's using IE on
the machine that is successful and its IE configuration profile is
different.

Maybe, you need to start checking IE configuration settings between the bad
and the good. It could be something as simple as the Proxy Setting in IE
that's pointing back to localhost IIS and that's were you're being denied
the login, as it it doesn't seem that the user account with IE that you're
using that is bad is pointing to the Internet when IE starts.
 
I know I am coming in the middle of a thread, maybe I missed something.
It really sounds like you have something set to keep that account off the
net.
Are you on a domain? Using a proxy server?
Have you checked your group policy settings?
Do you have third party security software blocking that account?

johnthebaptist said:
I'm stymied.
Click to expand...

Here's a thought. Let me give administrator privileges to my default
account and see what happens. BRB.

No luck. My default account is now labeled "Administrator," and it still
won't get me to IE from the task bar or desktop. Meanwhile my
administrator
account and my two other specialty accounts, both standard, reach the MSN
home page from the task bar/desktop.

Does this provide any useful clues?

Sending *iexplore -nohome -extoff* to my default account task bar/desktop
and pressing them returns the error.
Click to expand...
 
Bruce Chambers said:
That particular URL doesn't work for me, using either Firefox or
Internet Explorer. And, although I don't get the usual 403: Forbidden
error, I do get messages pertaining to a lack of permission to view the
page.

Have you tried changing the home page for the user account?
Yes.

From within IE, Tools > Internet Options, General Tab.
Click to expand...

Because the problem all along has been User 2 getting within IE, I'm
wondering why you propose this option.
From the Control Panel, Internet Options, General Tab.
Click to expand...

This worked. The General Tab has three buttons for the home page: Current,
Use Default, and Use Blank.

"Current" showed the error URL above, but I was so fixated on it that the
other two buttons might as well have been invisible. Or if I noted "Use
Default" I just assumed that MSN coming with the machine was the defective
default.

"Use Default" showed
http://www.gateway.com/g/startpage.html?Ch=Retail&Br=EM&Loc=ENG_US&Sys=DTP&M=T5082

"Use Blank" showed "about:blank" (How does that work, and for what?)

So it seems that

1. contrary to appearances, MSN, bundled with my eMachine, was not the
default IE home page; and

2. installing VSP1 with IIS Diagnostic Toolkit January 2006 (+86) somehow
bumped MSN off the "Current" User 2 home page and left me and other community
members stymied in our search for a User 2 default home page

Still unexplained: why is MSN still home page for my other three Users? If
memory serves I installed VSP1 from my Administrator account, User 1. Or at
least I needed Administrator permission in User 2, which I gave, of course.

Very much obliged, Bruce. User 2 now has a working home page. Thanks for
staying with me.

--
 
johnthebaptist said:
Because the problem all along has been User 2 getting within IE, I'm
wondering why you propose this option.
Click to expand...


Because, regardless of the home page or error displayed, this option is
still available.

This worked. The General Tab has three buttons for the home page: Current,
Use Default, and Use Blank.

"Current" showed the error URL above, but I was so fixated on it that the
other two buttons might as well have been invisible. Or if I noted "Use
Default" I just assumed that MSN coming with the machine was the defective
default.

"Use Default" showed
http://www.gateway.com/g/startpage.html?Ch=Retail&Br=EM&Loc=ENG_US&Sys=DTP&M=T5082

"Use Blank" showed "about:blank" (How does that work, and for what?)

So it seems that

1. contrary to appearances, MSN, bundled with my eMachine, was not the
default IE home page; and

2. installing VSP1 with IIS Diagnostic Toolkit January 2006 (+86) somehow
bumped MSN off the "Current" User 2 home page and left me and other community
members stymied in our search for a User 2 default home page

Still unexplained: why is MSN still home page for my other three Users? If
memory serves I installed VSP1 from my Administrator account, User 1. Or at
least I needed Administrator permission in User 2, which I gave, of course.

Very much obliged, Bruce. User 2 now has a working home page. Thanks for
staying with me.
Click to expand...


You're welcome.


--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. ~Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. ~Bertrand Russell

The philosopher has never killed any priests, whereas the priest has
killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
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