ERROR: Error 1720. An unexpected error was encountered by action 'CreateVirtualDirectory'

Summary

This error occurs when the installer is unable to convert the RMTrack installation folder into an IIS Virtual Directory. There appears to be more than one underlying cause of the problem, and at this time there is no definitive solution that covers all scenarios.

The most frequent cause of the problem is the IWAM account's password is not syncronized between Windows and IIS's metabase. To correct this the IWAM account password must be changed to the value contained in the IIS metabase.

Steps

  1. In the Command window, locate the folder that contains the Adsutil.vbs file. Use the Adsutil.vbs tool to obtain the passwords for the IWAM and IUSR accounts from the IIS metabase. See the section "How to Use Adsutil.vbs" below for specific instructions.
  2. To change the IUSR and/or IWAM password in Windows follow these steps:
    1. From the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management.
    2. Under the System Tools node, click to expand the Local Users and Groups and Users nodes. In the User node, you can change the account information for all Windows user accounts and groups.
    3. Right-click the IUSR_ComputerName and/or IWAM_ComputerName accounts, and then click Set Password.
    4. Modify the passwords so that they reflect the IIS metabase password that you obtained in step 1.

How to Use Adsutil.vbs

IIS provides a script file named Adsutil.vbs that you can use to obtain or set the passwords of the IUSR and IWAM accounts to or from the IIS metabase. The Adsutil.vbs script is usually located in the <Drive>\Inetpub\Adminscripts folder.

The following table lists the syntax for different functions of the Adsutil.vbs utility:

FunctionSyntax
Obtain the IUSR account password cscript.exe adsutil.vbs get w3svc/anonymoususerpass
Obtain the IWAM account password cscript.exe adsutil.vbs get w3svc/wamuserpass
Set the IUSR account password cscript.exe adsutil.vbs set w3svc/anonymoususerpass "password"
Set the IWAM account password cscript.exe adsutil.vbs set w3svc/wamuserpass "password"

Note When you try to obtain the password it is displayed as asterisks. To obtain the password in clear text you must modify Adsutil.vbs so that it displays the unmasked password. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. In Notepad, open Adsutil.vbs.
  2. On the Edit menu, click Find, type IsSecureProperty = True, and then click Find Next.
  3. Change "IsSecureProperty = True" to "IsSecureProperty = False".
  4. Save the changes to Adsutil.vbs, and then close Notepad.

Applies to

RMTrack Issue Tracking - all versions

Keywords: Install, 1720, CreateVirtualDirectory