From the start menu, point to Programs, Windows NT Option Pack, Microsoft Internet Information Server, and then click Internet Service Manager.

  • In the left pane, double-click the IIS mode.
  • In the right pane, double-click the computer name node.
  • Right-click Default Web site and then click Properties.
  • The Default Web site properties dialog box appears with tabs for each property sheet.

Each site on your computer has its property sheets. The general settings or features for a site are displayed in these sheets and stored in a database like structure called the metabase. During the installation of IIS default values are assigned to the various properties on the property sheet. You can publish documents on your site without changing these default settings, but you can easily customize the settings as well.

Master – When IIS is installed on your computer, certain default properties applied to the Master property sheets. Each virtual site you create inherits these settings. If you change the settings on the Master property sheets, following virtual sites will inherit the new settings, but previously created virtual sites will not.

To access Master property sheets, open the Internet Service Manager, right click on your computer icon, click Properties and then click on the Edit button under the heading the Master properties.

Default – The installation process creates a Default Web site with its default properties. Every file you create within the Default Web site will inherit these settings.

Objects – Objects created in a virtual directory will inherit the virtual directory's property sheet settings, whereas objects set up on the Default Web site will inherit the settings of the Default Web site's property sheets. After an object created, the property sheets can be configured on the object level.

Use this property sheet to control which users have Website Operator privileges. Website operators are a group of users who have limited administrative privileges on individual Web sites, so they can administer properties that affect only their site.

The Access Permissions properties appear when you are working with a local directory or a network share. Use these check boxes to determine the type of access allowed to the directory.

Read – Select this check box to enable Web clients to read or download files stored in a home directory or a virtual directory.

Write – Select this check box to enable Web clients to upload files to the enabled directory on your server or to change content in a write enabled file.