How to display ASP errors on Windows 2008 II7

Published on by matt

By default ASP errors are not displayed on a Windows 2008, II7 server. The default error message displayed simply says:

Server Error
500 – Internal server error.
There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.

This is for very good reason. Detailed error message can display sensitive information that you do not want public. But for development purposes we need to see the error message to properly resolve the error. Here are the steps to display the detailed error message.

In the IIS settings for the website:

1. Go to “ASP” (under IIS).

2. Set “Send Errors to Browser” to true.

If it still doesn’t display the detailed error follow these steps.

1. Go to “Configuration Editor” (under Management section).

2. Under system.webServer, select “httpErrors”.

3. Set errorMode to “Detailed”

Be sure to add proper error handling when taking the website live.