Removing Web Access to Directories on a Windows Hosting Account
You can remove all Web access to a directory on your Windows hosting account by removing the "Anonymous Access" IIS Setting for that directory. The result of removing this permission is that you can only access that directory from with your hosting account or via FTP. You will not be able to access the directory through any Web browser, regardless of whether you are knowledgeable of the hosting account user name and password.
To Remove Web Access to a Directory Using IIS Settings
- Log in to your Account Manager.
- Click Web Hosting.
Click one of the following, based on the type of hosting you have. You can tell this by the second word in your hosting's description beneath your hosting account's domain name, e.g. Deluxe Web correlates to Web/Classic (Hosting Control Panel).
Web/Classic (Hosting Control Panel)
NOTE: Before you start, click here to see which version of the FTP File Manager is in your Control Panel. This help article applies to the Classic FTP File Manager. If you are using the New FTP File Manager, see Removing Web Access to Directories on a Windows Hosting Account
- Next to the hosting account you want to use, click Manage.
- In the Tools section, click IIS Settings.
- Select the appropriate directory or directories and click Edit.
- Make sure Anonymous Access is not checked, and then click OK.
NOTE TO FRONTPAGE USERS: Microsoft FrontPage manages all directory and subdirectory permissions on your website. If you created custom directories on your website, or you are using another tool to build and or manage your website, switching to FrontPage may cause some difficulties. It overwrites all of your directory permissions and may make your Website unusable. If you have FrontPage Extensions activated in your Hosting account, you will not have access to the Permissions feature in the FTP File Manager section of the Hosting Control Panel.
For additional information on IIS Settings, see Can You Explain the Different IIS Settings?
For additional information on limiting Web directory access, see Restricting Web Access to a Directory in Windows IIS6.
Windows (Plesk)
Using Plesk shared hosting accounts, you can only remove Web access from directories that are a domain name's Document Root.
- Next to the hosting account you want to use, click Manage.
- At the bottom of the section of the domain hosting you want to use, click Show More.
- Click Web Server Settings.
- In the Directory security settings section, deselect Anonymous access, and then click OK.