I have a .Net Core 2.0 application that I host in IIS 7.
With IIS Express the application works fine and I'm able to connect to the database successfully. With IIS I get this error:
Cannot open database "Books" requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user 'DOMAINNAME\PCNAME$'.
My connectionString in appsettings.production.json file looks like this :
"ConnectionStrings": {
"BooksDatabase": "Server=PCNAME\\SQLEXPRESS;Database=Books;user id=iisAccess;password=iisPassword;Trusted_Connection=True;ConnectRetryCount=0;MultipleActiveResultSets=true"
};
What am I doing wrong and why does it say that the "login failed for 'DOMAINNAME\PCNAME$'" when I put the credentials user id=iisAccess;password=iisPassword; in my JSON file?
You are asking for Windows Authentication:
Trusted_Connection=True
Remove this part of the connection string and give it another try.
The reason for the error goes along these lines:
IISExpress runs as a normal process in your logon session. So it runs with your Windows Credentials. When your app is running inside IISExpress it is actually running under your credential, and when you connect to the database using Windows Authentication, is your login that SQL Server will receive.
The full IIS on the other hand runs as a service under a different session and a different user account. There are the application pools that also play a part and run under yet another account. But the main thing is that those default IIS accounts are local accounts, so they have no "visibility" to another computers. Hence when your app tries to connect to SQL Server, SQL "sees" the machine account, which goes by the name DOMAIN\MACHINE$.
Most likely, ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT is not set correctly on the server (i.e. either not set at all or not set to Production).
On your server, edit the system environment variables and add one (if it doesn't already exist) with the name ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT and the value Production. Also, edit the advanced settings of your app pool in IIS for the application and ensure that the key Load User Profile is set to True.
I have a very small test application in which I'm trying to install a Windows Service and create a LocalDB database during the install process, then connect to that LocalDB database when the Windows Service runs.
I am running into huge problems connecting to a LocalDB instance from my Windows Service.
My installation process is exactly like this:
Execute an installer .msi file which runs the msiexec process as the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account.
Run a custom action to execute SqlLocalDB.exe with the following commands:
sqllocaldb.exe create MYINSTANCE
sqllocaldb.exe share MYINSTANCE MYINSTANCESHARE
sqllocaldb.exe start MYINSTANCE
Run a custom C# action using ADO.NET (System.Data.SqlConnection) to perform the following actions:
Connect to the following connection string, Data Source=(localdb)\MYINSTANCE; Integrated Security=true
CREATE DATABASE TestDB
USE TestDB
CREATE TABLE ...
Start the Windows Service before the installer finishes.
The Windows Service is installed to the LocalSystem account and so also runs as the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM user account.
The service attempts to connect using the same connection string used above.
I am consistently getting the following error when trying to open the connection to the above connection string from within the Windows Service:
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904): A network-related or
instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to
SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify
that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to
allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 50
- Local Database Runtime error occurred. The specified LocalDB instance does not exist.
This is frustrating because both the msi installer custom action and the Windows Service are running under the same Windows user account (I checked, they're both NT AUTHORITY\System). So why the first works and the second does not is beyond me.
I have tried changing the connection strings used in the custom action and the Windows Service to use the share name (localdb)\.\MYINSTANCESHARE and I get the exact same error from the Windows Service.
I have tried changing the user account that the Windows Service logs on as to my Windows user account, which does work as long as I first run a command to add it to the SQL server logins for that instance.
I've also tried running a console application and connecting to the share name connection string and that works as well.
I've also tried connecting to the share name from SQL Server Management Studio and that works as well.
However none of these methods really solve my problem. I need a Windows Service because it starts up as soon as the computer starts up (even if no user logs on) and starts up no matter which user account is logged in.
How does a Windows Service connect to a LocalDB private instance?
I am using SQL Server 2014 Express LocalDB.
Picking up from the comments on the question, here are some areas to look at. Some of these have already been answered in those comments, but I am documenting here for others in case the info might be helpful.
Check here for a great source of info on SQL Server Express LocalDB:
SQL Server 2014 Express LocalDB
SqlClient Support for LocalDB
SqlLocalDB Utlity
Introducing LocalDB, an improved SQL Express (also look at the Q&A section at the end of the main post, just before the comments, as someone asked if LocalDB can be launched from a service, and the answer is:
LocalDB can be launched from a service, as long as the profile is loaded for the service account.
What version of .Net is being used? Here it is 4.5.1 (good) but earlier versions could not handle the preferred connection string (i.e. #"(localdb)\InstanceName"). The following quote is taken from the link noted above:
If your application uses a version of .NET before 4.0.2 you must connect directly to the named pipe of the LocalDB.
And according to the MSDN page for SqlConnection.ConnectionString:
Beginning in .NET Framework 4.5, you can also connect to a LocalDB database as follows:
server=(localdb)\\myInstance
Paths:
Instances: C:\Users{Windows Login}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances
Databases:
Created via SSMS or direct connection: C:\Users{Windows Login}\Documents or C:\Users{Windows Login}
Created via Visual Studio: C:\Users{Windows Login}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\VisualStudio\SSDT
Initial Problem
Symptoms:
Database files (.mdf and .ldf) created in the expected location:
C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile
Instance files created in an unexpected location:
C:\Users\{current user}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances
Cause (note taken from "SqlLocalDB Utility" MSDN page that is linked above; emphasis mine):
Operations other than start can only be performed on an instance belonging to currently logged in user.
Things to try:
Connection string that specifies the database (though maybe a long-shot if the error is regarding not being able to connect to the instance):
"Server=(LocalDB)\MYINSTANCE; Integrated Security=true ;AttachDbFileName=C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\TestDB.mdf"
"Server=(LocalDB)\.\MYINSTANCESHARE; Integrated Security=true ;AttachDbFileName=C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\TestDB.mdf"
Is the service running? Run the following from a Command Prompt:
TASKLIST /FI "IMAGENAME eq sqlservr.exe"
It should probably be listed under "Console" for the "Session Name" column
Run the following from a Command Prompt:
sqllocaldb.exe info MYINSTANCE
And verify that the value for "Owner" is correct. Is the value for "Shared name" what it should be? If not, the documentation states:
Only an administrator on the computer can create a shared instance of LocalDB
As part of the setup, add the NT AUTHORITY\System account as a Login to the system, which is required if this account is not showing as the "Owner" of the instance:
CREATE LOGIN [NT AUTHORITY\System] FROM WINDOWS;
ALTER SERVER ROLE [sysadmin] ADD MEMBER [NT AUTHORITY\System];
Check the following file for clues / details:
C:\Users{Windows Login}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances\MYINSTANCE\error.log
In the end you might need to create an actual account to create and own the Instance and Database, as well as run your service. LocalDB really is meant to be user-mode, and is there any downside to having your service have its own login? And you probably wouldn't need to share the instance at that point.
And in fact, as noted by Microsoft on the SQL Server YYYY Express LocalDB MSDN page:
An instance of LocalDB owned by the built-in accounts such as NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM can have manageability issues due to windows file system redirection; Instead use a normal windows account as the owner.
UPDATE (2015-08-21)
Based on feedback from the O.P. that using a regular User account can be problematic in certain environments, AND keeping in mind the original issue of the LocalDB instance being created in the %LOCALAPPDATA% folder for the user running the installer (and not the %LOCALAPPDATA% folder for NT AUTHORITY\System ), I found a solution that seems to keep with the intent of easy installation (no user to create) and should not require needing extra code to load the SYSTEM profile.
Try using one of the two built-in accounts that is not the LocalSystem account (which does not maintain its own registry info. Use either:
NT AUTHORITY\LocalService
NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService
Both have their profile folders in: C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles
While I have not been able to test via an installer, I did test a service logging on as NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService by setting my SQL Server Express 2014 instance to log on as this account, and restarted the SQL Server service. I then ran the following:
EXEC xp_cmdshell 'sqllocaldb c MyTestInstance -s';
and it created the instance in: C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server Local DB\Instances
I then ran the following:
EXEC xp_cmdshell N'SQLCMD -S (localdb)\MyTestInstance -E -Q "CREATE DATABASE [MyTestDB];"';
and it had created the database in: C:\Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService
I was able to solve similar issue in our WiX installer recently. We have a Windows service, running under SYSTEM account, and an installer, where LocalDB-based storage is one of the options for database configuration. For some time (a couple of years actually) product upgrades and service worked quite fine, with no issues related to LocalDB. We are using default v11.0 instance, which is created in SYSTEM profile in C:\Windows\System32\config tree, and a database specified via AttachDbFileName, created in ALLUSERSPROFILE tree. DB provider is configured to use Windows authentication. We also have a custom action in installer, scheduled as deferred/non-impersonate, which runs DB schema updates.
All this worked fine until recently. After another bunch of DB updates, our new release started to fail after having upgraded over the former - service was unable to start, reporting infamous "A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server" (error 50) fault.
When investigating this issue, it became apparent that the problem is in a way WiX runs custom actions. Although non-impersonated CA-s run under SYSTEM account, the registry profile and environment remain that of current user (I suspect WiX loads these voluntary when attaching to user's session). This leads to incorrect path being expanded from the LOCALAPPDATA variable - the service receives SYSTEM profile one, but the schema update CA works with the user's one.
So here are two possible solutions. The first one is simple, but too intrusive to user's system - with cmd.exe started via psexec, recreate broken instance under the SYSTEM account. This was not an option for us as the user may have other databases created in v11.0 instance, which is public. The second option assumed lots of refactoring, but wouldn't hurt anything. Here is what to do to run DB schema updates properly with LocalDB in WiX CA:
Configure your CA as deferred/non-impersonate (should run under SYSTEM account);
Fix environment to point to SYSTEM profile paths:
var systemRoot = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SystemRoot");
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("USERPROFILE", String.Format(#"{0}\System32\config\systemprofile", systemRoot));
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("APPDATA", String.Format(#"{0}\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Roaming", systemRoot));
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("LOCALAPPDATA", String.Format(#"{0}\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local", systemRoot));
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("HOMEPATH", String.Empty);
Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable("USERNAME", Environment.UserName);
Load SYSTEM account profile. I used LogonUser/LoadUserProfile native API methods, as following:
[DllImport("advapi32.dll", CharSet = CharSet.Unicode, SetLastError = true)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
private static extern bool LogonUser(
string lpszUserName,
string lpszDomain,
string lpszPassword,
int dwLogonType,
int dwLogonProvider,
ref IntPtr phToken);
[StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
struct PROFILEINFO
{
public int dwSize;
public int dwFlags;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public String lpUserName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public String lpProfilePath;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public String lpDefaultPath;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public String lpServerName;
[MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.LPWStr)]
public String lpPolicyPath;
public IntPtr hProfile;
}
[DllImport("userenv.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Unicode)]
[return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.Bool)]
static extern bool LoadUserProfile(IntPtr hToken, ref PROFILEINFO lpProfileInfo);
var hToken = IntPtr.Zero;
var hProfile = IntPtr.Zero;
bool result = LogonUser("SYSTEM", "NT AUTHORITY", String.Empty, 3 /* LOGON32_LOGON_SERVICE */, 0 /* LOGON32_PROVIDER_DEFAULT */, ref token);
if (result)
{
var profileInfo = new PROFILEINFO();
profileInfo.dwSize = Marshal.SizeOf(profileInfo);
profileInfo.lpUserName = #"NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM";
if (LoadUserProfile(token, ref profileInfo))
hProfile = profileInfo.hProfile;
}
Wrap this in an IDisposable class, and use with a using statement to build a context.
The most important - refactor your code to perform necessary DB updates in a child process. This could be a simple exe-wrapper over your installer DLL, or stand-alone utility, if your already have one.
P.S. All these difficulties could be avoided, if only Microsoft let uses choose where to create LocalDB instances, via command line option. Like Postgres' initdb/pg_ctl utilities have, for example.
I suggest using a different user account, and not using the System account, by doing the following:-
create a new account on the machine, and set that to be the account
under which the Windows Service runs. It's not good practice to use
the system account just to run an application, anyway, as the
permissions are excessive.
ensure that the permissions on the LocalDB files are set to allow the said user account to access the database (and thus continue to
use Integrated Security)
make sure it works by trying to connect to the DB (once installed) under the same user account by running sqlcmd or Management Studio
under the context of the said user, then connecting with Integrated
Security to ensure it works.
Some other things to try/consider:
have you checked the Windows Event log for any events that might be useful for diagnostic purposes?
Make sure that if you have any other versions of SQL Server (especially prior to 2012) that for the command-line tools, the %PATH% isn't set to find an older tools version first. Older tools don't support LocalDB.
It is possible also (as an alternative) to set up LocalDB to be shared with other users. This involves sharing the instance, and then granting access to other users. See the "Sharing Issues" section in this article: Troubleshoot SQL Server 2012 Express LocalDB.
There's also another SO article that may contain some more useful information there in the links within (change the language in the URL from Polish to English by changing pl-pl to en-us). His work-around is using SQL Server accounts, which might not be OK in your case.
This might also be useful, as it relates to security permissions being denied, and possible resolutions: https://dba.stackexchange.com/questions/30383/cannot-start-sqllocaldb-instance-with-my-windows-account
Trevor, the problem you have is with the MSI custom actions. You must configure them with "Impersonate=false" otherwise the custom actions will be executed under the current user context.
BTW what tool are you using to create the installer?
Depending on the tool you use, could you please provide screenshots or code snippets of your custom actions configuration?
The accepted answer from this post will give you some additional information about the different custom action execution alternatives:
Run ExeCommand in customAction as Administrator mode in Wix Installer
You will find additional information about impersonation here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rflaming/archive/2006/09/23/768248.aspx
I wouldn't create the database under the system's localdb instance. I'd create it under the current user installing the product. This will make life much easier if you need to delete or manage the database. They can do this through sql management studio. Otherwise, you'll have to use psexc or something else to launch a process under the SYSTEM account to manage it.
Once the db is created, then use the share option you mentioned. The SYSTEM account can then access the database through the share name.
sqllocaldb share MSSqlLocalDb LOCAL_DB
When sharing, I've noticed you'll have to restart the the local db instance to actually access the db through the share name:
sqllocaldb stop MSSQLLocalDB
sqllocaldb start MSSQLLocalDB
Also, You may need to add the SYSTEM account as a db reader and writer to the database ...
EXEC sp_addrolemember db_datareader, 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM'
BLUF
Our application is attempting to write a file to a UNC folder using an ASP.NET web service running under .NET 4.5, IIS 7.5, and Windows Server 2008 R2. However, any attempt to write the file to the desired location results in an access denied exception.
The task seems simple however me and my team have been troubleshooting this for a while now and we are stumped as to what may be causing the error. Below are the details of our setup and what we have tried and found so far. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Environment Setup
The web server, mywebserver, has a website named My.Site.Com with a corresponding application pool named My.Site.Com. The application pool is configured as shown below.
.NET Framework Version : v4.0
Enable 32-bit Applications : False
Managed Pipeline Mode : Integrated
Name : My.Site.Com
Identity : ApplicationPoolIdentity
Load User Profile : False
The UNC path we are attempting to write to is \myotherserver\mydirectories\output where mydirectories is the actual share. On this share a domain group named mygroup-www has been granted full permissions to the share and all subfolders. The machine account (i.e., mywebserver) is a member of this mygroup-www group.
NOTE: For the moment, this UNC path actually lives on the same
machine, mywebserver. However, this will eventually be moved to a machine other
than mywebserver in our test environment and in the production environment
when that it is ready. Currently, I only have the one test environment to troubleshoot with.
The error can be replicated by executing the following code.
[WebMethod]
[ScriptMethod(UseHttpGet = false, ResponseFormat = ResponseFormat.Json)]
public string ExportReport(int reportId)
{
try
{
string output = ConfigHelper.OutputPath + "test.html"; // UNC path
string url = ConfigHelper.VirtualPath + "test.html";
string[] lines = { "Hello", "World!" };
File.WriteAllLines(output, lines); // Access Denied!
return url;
}
catch (System.Exception ex)
{
Logger.ErrorException("Error exporting report", ex);
throw;
}
}
Troubleshooting
Failed Attempts
We tried various combinations of group/user permissions on the folders (listed below). When running these tests we also ran Process Monitor. For each configuration we saw the same result. The w3wp.exe process attempted to create the file in the desired location but reported a result of ACCESS DENIED. The user of each configuration was IIS APPPOOL\My.Site.Com as expected.
Granting mydomain\mymachine$ full permissions to \myotherserver\mydirectories
Granting mydomain\mymachine$ full permissions to \myotherserver\mydirectories\output
NOTE: I have also tried modifying the code so that it would read a
simple file from \myotherserver\mydirectories\output. When
attempting to read the file, the process fails with an ACCESS DENIED
message as it did when writing the file.
Successful Attempts
We also tried several configurations that worked.
Grant the local IIS APPPOOL\My.Site.Com permissions
The first configuration to work was to grant the IIS APPPOOL\My.Site.Com full permissions to \myotherserver\mydirectories The file was successfully written however the process's user was quite unexpectedly a domain account that was set up for a web application on the same machine in another website. This remains very confusing but worked as the 'other' account also has write permissions to the share.
This won't work in production as we cannot use local accounts to grant access to networked resources but is an interesting data point nonetheless.
Change the App Pool Identity to Domain User
The second configuration that worked was to change the My.Site.Com application pool's identify to domain account that had full permissions to \myotherserver\mydirectories. This was a 'vanilla' domain account that was manually created by us. We did not capture what the user of the process was but that may be another useful data point.
This option may be possible, however it breaks away from best practices with IIS 7.5 and may not be allowed in our production environment due to fairly stringent IT policies.
Run the Site On My Development Machine
The third test was to run the site locally on my development machine, mydevmachine. My local IIS configuration is identical to mywebserver with the exception that I am running Windows 7 instead of Windows Server 2008. I granted full permissions for mydomain\mydevmachine to the \myotherserver\mydirectories and ran the application. The file was successfully written. According to Process Monitor the user for the process was correctly set to IIS APPPOOL\My.Site.Com.
Conclusion
We would like to enable write access as designed using the machine account of mywebserver. We have read ApplicationPoolIdentity user cannot modify files in shared folder in Windows Server 2008 and Permissions for Shared Folder for IIS 7 Application Pool Identity Across Domain and Application Pool Identities.
According to this information we should be able use the machine account to grant read and write access to networked resources such as the UNC path. In fact, I can do this in the desired manner when running the web site from my development machine.
There are a couple thoughts that come to mind. Perhaps there is something wrong with the machine account of the test web server. Or perhaps that 'other' software is interfering with the process somehow.
Any thoughts as to what may be causing this issue? What else should we do to troubleshoot?
Reboot your 'mywebserver'.
Marvel at the now mysteriously functional ApplicationPoolIdentity.
Install MS HotFix KB2545850 and learn the details about this bug in KB2672809 which also shows the steps to reproduce and demonstrate this apparently random problem. Direct download link here.
Speculate why Microsoft has not managed to release a normal windows update for this in the 3 years since that hotfix was published. While people still continue running into it and pulling their hair out because of this obscure problem.
Learn about the other folks who have shared and enjoyed this gift from MS that still continues to keep on giving:
IIS application using application pool identity loses primary token?
DirectoryServicesCOMException 80072020 From IIS 7.5 Site Running Under ApplicationPoolIdentity
ApplicationPoolIdentity cannot access network resources
ApplicationPoolIdentity IIS 7.5 to SQL Server 2008 R2 not working
Windows Authentication Failed when using application pool identity
IIS 7.5 stops using machine account to connect to network resource when using AppPoolIdentity
Your Windows 7 dev machine probably worked fine because it reboots more often than the server. Congrats on your very well written and thorough bug report. I rarely see that here.
I had similar problem accessing a network share using AppPoolIdentity in an ASP.NET application (access denied).
Using NetworkService account or other domain account worked but these were not the best solution.
I performed almost all the tests you did but finally found something that worked.
I figured out that the Network Service account was not used when accessing the shares, just like you did (i expected domain\machine$ account)
This worked for us:
On your IIS web site, go to Authentication and change the Anonymous Authentication item to "Application Pool Identity". It's by default set to "IUSR". This solved our problem.
Also maybe activating ASP.NET impersonation (still in Authentication menu) may help.
Thibault
I have faced same issue, I resolved by creating one domain account for each environemt (QA, STAGE, PRODUCTION). In Application pool identity I have set custom account and I used domain user for respective account. Now It gives me the ability to write and read the files from UNC Path.
This code was used once to get the Current user's windows logon name.
The application was published on a webserver and this code worked to get the end user's Windows Logon Name, so how could this happen when this code is actually running in the code behind on the server itself?
Dim CurrentUser As String = System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity.GetCurrent().Name.ToString
Please explain to me if you can.
IIS has a mode called Windows Authentication which (usually when combined with Internet Explorer) will authenticate the user with the server automatically and enable this functionality.
For this to work you usually have to disable anonymous access.
Mainly looking to answer my question #1 below, but more knowledge would be appreciated.
I tried to use these resources during my investigation, but was unsuccessful:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sqldatabaseengine/thread/f5eb164d-9774-4864-ae05-cac99740949b (For this error: Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to failure in retrieving the user's local application data path. Please make sure the user has a local user profile on the computer. The connection will be closed.)
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqlexpress/thread/6dfdcc22-7a81-4e8f-a947-c1ce6982d4b3/ (For this error: CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database master. An attempt to attach an auto-named database for file ? failed. A database with the same name exists, or specified file cannot be opened, or it is located on UNC share.)
Questions
1.) Why does this error occur while running the Telerik Rad Controls for ASP.NET AJAX "Live Demos" project with IIS 7 (Running Telerik Live Demos works fine using ASP.NET Development Server with this connection string)
Failed to generate a user instance of SQL Server due to failure in retrieving the user's local application data path. Please make sure the user has a local user profile on the computer. The connection will be closed.
2.) How is creating a SQL Server Express instances different in IIS 7, from ASP.NET Development Server & SSMSE
3.) Are there certain attributes of a SQL connection string not allowed when running a website on different contexts (based on #2).
Environment:
I'm not running the "Live Demos" .NET 3.5 ASP.NET web application via the ASP.NET Development Server (feature that pops up in your system tray and picks a port for you after clicking play in Visual Studio). That works just fine! I'm running the website on IIS 7. SQL Server Express is using the NETWORK SERVICE user in Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services > SQL Server (SQLExpress).
Using this connection string provided with the installed "Live Demos" web application demo project:
<add name="NorthwindConnectionString"
connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|Northwind.mdf;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True"
providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
I've tried setting "User Instance=False", but that just throws another error:
CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database master. An attempt to attach an auto-named database for file ? failed. A database with the same name exists, or specified file cannot be opened, or it is located on UNC share.
(where "?" is the path of the *.mdf file - C:\Users\\MyDocuments\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\TelerikDemos\Telerik\RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX Q2 2011\Live Demos\App_Data\Northwind.mdf .. Stack Overflow italics is broken with some of those characters, so I had to remove that path)
Someone answered me on a previous question to set this "User Instance=False", but it appears User instances have nothing to do with whether or not you use SQL Express. User Instances are simply a feature of SQL Express that allows a very unprivileged user to host a database instance in it's own user context.
Note, this Northwind database is stored in an *.mdf file in the App_Data folder (under the "Live Demos" root application directory) along with the *.ldf (log file). I did previously try attaching the *.mdf files as actual databases under the "Databases" folder (in the SSMSE Object Explorer tree), but later removed them.
Web application "Live Demos" root folder (and nested folders/files) have the following users assigned with ALL privileges:
- IIS APPPOOL\Telerik ("Telerik" is the name of my application pool in IIS 7 for this site)
- IUSR
- NETWORK SERVICE
Making a note for myself about this SQLExpress master database query:
SELECT * FROM sys.dm_os_child_instances
Also tried different combinations of *.mdf & *.ldf permissions while also changing the user on the SQL Server (SQLExpress) Windows 7 service (Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services) .. and also restarted the service after making those changes.
To reproduce:
download the Telerik Rad Controls for ASP.NET AJAX. Set the permimssions I mentioned in the "Live Demos" folder under Program Files\Telerik, change the .NET version of the web application to .NET 3.5, switch out their 3.5 web.config file with the normal web.config file in that folder. You have to use Visual Studio 2010, but I am running this in Visual Studio 2008 (with a little grunt work I did because our company is not yet on VS2010). Also switch out the proper Bin35 assemblies into the "Live Demos" folder Bin folder. Compile the solution. Create an IIS 7 website. Add Windows authentication. Enabled anonymous and Windows authentication.. all others are disabled. Set application pool to use Classic and 32 bit.
Then navigating to this URL and clicking the "First Look" image.
http://localhost/combobox/examples/overview/defaultcs.aspx
====================
More evidence will be provided if requested.
You are using a connection string with trusted authentication = true. This means that the connection uses the security context of the calling process.
When you run with the development server you are running in the security context of the logged in user, so every thing works fine.
When you run in IIS you are in the security context of the application pool process, which is NETWORK SERVICE, which does not have a user profile, therefore it crashes.
You can fix it by either:
Change the identity of the application pool to a normal user with access to the database
Use a connection string with user name and password
IIS doesn't load the Windows user profile, but certain applications might take advantage of it anyway to store temporary data. SQL Express is an example of an application that does this. However, a user profile has to be created to store temporary data in either the profile directory or in the registry hive. The user profile for the Network Service account was created by the system and was always available. However, with the switch to unique Application Pool identities, no user profile is created by the system. Only the standard application pools (DefaultAppPool and Classic .NET AppPool) have user profiles on disk. No user profile is created if the Administrator creates a new application pool.
However, if you want, you can configure IIS application pools to load the user profile by setting the LoadUserProfile attribute to "true".
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/iis/manage/configuring-security/application-pool-identities