Actinic refuses web site address - Error Sending Request

[matt_brown]

Whenever we try to use any of the setup wizards to configure our web site settings, the web site address http://www.motormedia.co.uk is rejected with the following error:

The wizard received an error while verifying the web server. Error sending request.

The system will accept http://ftp.motormedia.co.uk, although this page simply displays a 404 error page from the host. If we leave this ftp. one as the web site address, we still get blocked for the same reason when we get to entering the secure server address.

I have seen somewhere on this forum that some hosts dont allow 'directory browsing'.

Any ideas? This is very frustrating, as the wizards are by far the easiest way to enter the web site settings!

[Darren]

Hi there.

I have seen somewhere on this forum that some hosts dont allow 'directory browsing'

Yes, that is correct, if you wish to use the wizard, see if the host will enable browsing for you. If not, and the Wizard does not work the settings will need to be configured manually.

[matt_brown]

Thanks, and I have found the solution.

I HOPE THIS IS OF HELP TO OTHER USERS

Enabling directory browsing may be a task that your host will need to do, but many hosts will allow such changes to be made by yourselves, if you know how.

If you visit a folder on your web site without specifying a page name, the browser will display the index.html page if it exists, or the index.htm file if it exists etc. It goes through a list of default index pages (.asp etc) and if it cant find any, it will either show a directory listing of the folder, or show 403 - Forbidden. If it does the latter - you dont have directory browsing enabled.

Actinic is therefor not able to show the folder names within the wizard, so it stops at the first hurdle.

TO ENABLE DIRECTORY BROWSING:

Look in the root of your web server from your FTP program. If you see a file called .htaccess, this needs to be downloaded and edited. If not, create a new file to upload. (You may need to call it htaccess and rename it to .htaccess when you've uploaded it.)

The change that needs to be made is the addition of the following line:
Options +Indexes

When re-uploaded, 'directory browsing' is enabled, and Actinic is able to guide you through the setup using the wizards!

Do bear in mind that visitors to your web site may be able to delve a little deeper than you expected - for example by visiting your www.yourdomain.com/images/ folder - if there is no index in here, the visitor will be able to see the names of every file in this folder! Simply create a blank index.htm (or one that tells the user to use your home page) and upload it to any such folder.

I hope this helps, it certainly fixed the issue on our web server!

Matt Brown

[Darren]

Thanks Matt.

That is useful information