IIS application pool may unexpectedly exit when a worker process shuts down or is recycled

Symptoms

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Consider the following scenario. You set up a Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 application pool. The application pool contains a Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0 application. A worker process in the application pool shuts down or is recycled. In this scenario, the application pool may unexpectedly exit.

Cause

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This problem occurs because a worker process in an application pool does not have sufficient permissions to access and write to the following registry key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\<ASP.NETVersion>\NamesNote <ASP.NETVersion> represents the version of ASP.NET that is installed.

Workaround

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To work around this problem, follow these steps:

1. Add the application pool identity user account to the IIS_WPG group. (By default, the NETWORK SERVICE user account is the application pool identity user account.) To do this, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Manage.
   2. Expand Local Users and Groups, and then click Groups.
   3. Right-click IIS_WPG, and then click Properties.
   4. In the IIS_WPG Properties dialog box, click Add.
   5. In the Select Users, Computers or Groups dialog box, click Advanced.
   6. Click Find Now.
   7. In the Search results pane, click the application pool identity user account, and then click OK.
   8. Click OK.
   Note All the application pool identities should be members of the IIS_WPG group.
2. Make sure that the IIS_WPG group has the necessary permissions to access the ASP.NET Names registry entry. To grant IIS_WPG the necessary permissions, follow these steps:
   1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
   2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ASP.NET_2.0.50727\Names
   3. Right-click Names, and then click Permissions.
   4. Click Add, type IIS_WPG, click Check Names, and then click OK.
   5. In the Permissions for Names dialog box, click Advanced.
   6. In the Advanced Security Settings for Names dialog box, click the Permissions tab, click IIS_WPG, and then click Edit.
   7. In the Permission Entry for Names dialog box, make sure that IIS_WPG is in the Name box.
   8. Click to select the following check boxes:
      • Query Value
      • Set Value
      • Create Subkey
      • Enumerate Subkeys
      • Notify
      • Read Control
   9. In all the dialog boxes, click OK, and then exit Registry Editor.

Note If the server is a domain controller, you must change the application pool identity to a new domain user account or to an existing domain user account. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. In IIS Manager, expand the server, expand Application Pools, right-click the name of the application pool that you want to modify, and then click Properties.
3. In the Application_Pool Properties dialog box, click the Identity tab.
4. Click Configurable, type the account user name. Or, click Browse to locate the account.
5. Type the account password in the Password box, and then click OK.