Windows 2000 Quick Fixes

Create a custom web site error message

IIS provides a set of default error pages it displays when an error occurs. For example, it displays a standard error page when the requested document doesn’t exist (the 404 error). While informative, the messages are unimaginative. You might want to add a little sizzle or humor to your site by customizing the error message pages. Or perhaps you want to offer additional help for users who experience specific problems. Whatever the case, it’s easy to customize the error messages.

Create custom error pages

The HTML documents that IIS displays for standard errors are stored in systemroot /Help/iisHelp/common. You can determine which file is used for a specific error through the IIS console:

1. Open the IIS console, right-click the web site, and choose Properties.

2. Click the Custom Errors tab. The list on this page identifies the HTML file associated with each error. Note the name and location of the file you want to modify.

3. Close the property sheet and the IIS console.

4. Open your HTML editor (you can use Notepad, Word, etc. if you don’t have a dedicated authoring application) and make the desired changes, then save the file.