For those who noted my thread "Win2K Impersonation Problem", I have produced a solution that enables the site to operate properly. Details of the problem can be found by reviewing the thread noted above.

I do not understand why this "solution" would be needed. Therefore I am describing the situation below and would like to invite any comments on why this problem occurred and why my "solution" fixes it and why it would be needed.

The problem seems ( to me ) to be related to some interaction between the physical structures of the COM folders and their relationship to the web site folders, NTFS permissions on these folders and their mappings into IIS virtual directories. I would not have expected the physical structures to be highly significant as long as they have proper permissions since they are mapped to virtual directories in IIS. Apparently this is not correct or my understanding is deficient on this topic ... wouldn't be the first time.

The physical structures of the folders for the problem condition are as follows:

D:\Inetroot\www00000\    <=== This is the "root" folder for the web application
   + COM\          <=== This is the "root" branch for all the COM stuff
       + MyCOM\    <=== This is the folder containing the COM stuff, etc.
   + Http\         <=== This is the folder mapped to the web site in IIS

The \Http folder is mapped to the web site in IIS. The \MyCOM folder is mapped to the COM server virtual directory in IIS. All NTFS permissions for the appropriate ID's were granted on all of the folders. Running with non-anonymous authentication, i.e. Integrated Windows Authentication only, this configuration results in users being challenged when an attempt is made to invoke a COM server resulting in failure.

I made the following changes to the physical folder structures and recreated the virtual directories in IIS. NTFS permissions on the folders are same as before.

D:\Inetroot\www00000\  <=== This is the "root" folder for the web application
   + Http\             <=== This is the folder mapped to the web site in IIS
       + MyCOM\        <=== This is the folder containing the COM stuff, etc.

All I did was move the physical folder holding the COM stuff to under the web site physical folder and recreate the mappings in IIS and maintain the NTFS permissions for the folders. This configuration works properly.

Assuming my understanding is the deficient quantity regarding this problem, I would appreciate some instruction as to why this physical structure change is necessary for proper operation.

Thanks,
Bill