Serving up files from a web server running IIS 6 can sometimes be problematical. This is because by default IIS 6 will not serve up files that have file extensions with unknown MIME types. This action was taken in IIS 6 to make web servers more secure, but you can allow files with any extension to be served up as follows:
- Open IIS Manager and open the properties of the IIS node.
- Click MIME Types, then click New.
- Type a single asterisk into the Extension box.
- Type application/octet-stream into the MIME Type box.
- Click OK.
Now IIS 6 will serve up any file to a client requesting it regardless of the file's extension. But this approach does this globally for all sites on the server--you can also do it on a per site basis using each website's properties pages because MIME settings are additive not overriding in IIS 6.
