asp.net 2.0 global themes not working on new windows server 2008

Question

We're migrating our .net 2.0 websites from a Windows 2003 server (32 bit) with IIS6 to a Windows Server 2008 (64 bit) box with IIS7. I can't seem to get the global themes to work. Same content/directory structure as our old servers; local App_Themes work fine.

Global Theme path: D:\Inetpub\wwwroot\aspnet_client\system_web\2_0_50727\Themes

thanks, Aaron

My theme structure is the following: Themes\BlueTheme\Default.skin Themes\BlueTheme\css\layout.css if i move the layout.css file out of the css folder directly in the "BlueTheme" folder, it works fine. Why wouldn't it pickup my css files in that css directory like it did on the old server? — aaron
To get around this issue i used an include.css file in the theme folder outside of my css folder, then imported every css file in the css folder. That works fine. My css folder has the same permissions as my themes folder. — aaron
can I make a suggestion - put your solution as an answer, and mark is as such. I had the same problem you did but did not see your comment. I ended up finding the answer and came back to share when I did (finally) read your comment here. Putting your comment as an answer might help others avoid the same mistake I made in skipping over your comment. — Scott Mitchell

Tommy Tommy · Accepted Answer · 2009-07-14T11:10:10

From the MSDN, your directory path should read: %windows%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version\ASP.NETClientFiles\Themes.

MSDN on themes. Of course, there are caveats with this and it appears that your directory could work if certain circumstances are true.

If that isn't the issue, I would also verify the permissions on your Themes directory. The ASP.NET worker process and IUSER or whatever account is running your website will need read access as well to all folders and subfolders of your theme. Are you getting any runtime errors with your setup?

asp.net 2.0 global themes not working on new windows server 2008

2 Answers