IIS asks for login credentials only on a specific folder

Question

i have on IIS 7 a site which has several sub folders. the site was built using .net 2 and is running in a pool in integrated mode.

the whole site works perfectly except for all aspx files under a folder called "Reports". when the user is trying to access any aspx page under that folder (i.e. http://domain/Reports/page1.aspx) he gets a 401 response and the browser prompts for a user and password.

this happens when accessing the site remotely and locally. when trying to look on the IIS log files the request is not listed as if it is blocked by something.

i have done the following tests to try and resolve this:

2. i have renamed the folder to R1 and then i could access any page on it
3. i have taken another working folder and renamed it to Reports and was then unable to access any of the files within it
4. i have reset the permissions over and over without success
5. i thought about Request filtering but i see no filter for a URL containing the word "Reports". also we have not set any filter so i should be working on the default IIS settings
6. i have created a simple html file and was unable to access it too. again the 401 error

seems like IIS just does not like a folder called "Reports". any ideas on what i am missing here?

Answer 1

Is SQL Server installed on the server, specifically SQL Server Reporting Services? Apparently it can cause problems with a Reports folder

Completely separate idea, so separate answer