How to deal with the "403.14-Forbidden" error

Problem Description

On a Windows instance, the error "HTTP Error 403.14-Forbidden Web server is configured not to list the contents of this directory" is displayed when accessing a website built on IIS.

Problem Causes

Possible reasons for this issue are as follows:

• There is no default document configured for the requested URL. See the Configuring Defaults documentation for more information.

• Directory browsing is not enabled on the Windows instance where the IIS website is located. You can use IIS Manager to enable directory browsing. For details, see Enabling Directory Browsing.

Solution

Configure default documents
If you do not wish to enable directory browsing, make sure a default document is configured and exists.

enable directory browsing

Note The operation steps in this article take the 64-bit Chinese version of Windows Server 2019 Data Center Edition as an example. The actual operation depends on your actual Windows instance operating system.

Use IIS Manager to enable directory browsing, the operation steps are as follows:

1. Remotely connect to the Windows instance.

2. In the lower left corner of the desktop, select the Start icon > Server Manager.

open server manager

3. In the upper right corner of the Server Manager page, select Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

4. In the IIS area of the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager page, double-click Directory Browse. directory browsing

5. In the Actions area on the right side of the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager page, click Enable. enable directory browsing

6. Revisit the site.

The website access is successful and the problem is solved.