"HTTP status 401: Access Denied" error for web service even when the virtual directory allows Anonymous access

Question

i have a web service hosted on another server with the Anonymous Access CheckBox in IIS is already checked. when my local web application is trying to access the web service, i still get the "The request failed with HTTP status 401: Access Denied." error. my web application is calling the web service like the following:

MyObject.WebService ws = new MyObject.WebService (); ws.Retrieve(someParams);

what am i missing here?

Answer 1

Make sure your directory permissions are also set to allow everyone read access. A lot of times doing local dev work I will forgot that the directory being accessed has a seperate set of permissions that need to be altered.

Cheers!

Answer 2

Here is a good reference on diagnosing 401 errors.

From that, one place to start is looking at the credentials you configure for the anonymous user. If they are incorrect (if perhaps the user password was changed elsewhere) you will get an HTTP 401.