Re: Unable to load SSL filter in IIS5.0 (sspifilt.dll)

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From: Theo Kanter (theo_at_verkstad.net)
Date: 12/11/04 

Date: Sat, 11 Dec 2004 07:53:03 GMT

The below is my input to the MS KB or other IIS 5.0 support forums:

The ISAPI tab via the web server properties in the IIS manager reports
sspifilt.dll as *not* loaded (see further error message details in other
responses to David's response in this thread).

Despite this I found that I am able to browse the web site with https
(SSL) on the *inside* the firewall. Turns out that the firewall blocks
port 443 to my server, which got me looking for a potential problem in
the first place.

As mentioned the ISAPI tab in the Web Site Properties (IIS Manager)
reported a problem loading sspifilt.exe. Then the event manager reported
an error that sspifilt.exe requires the SF_NOTIFY_READ_RAW_DATA filter
notification requiring the filter to be loaded as a *global* filter.

Thus, I started looking around what is meant by "global". When
inspecting the ISAPI tab of the "WWW Service Master Properties for
<host>", there are a number of filters properly loaded among which
sspifilt.dll (this time with a green arrow!), which explains why SSL
works (albeit inside the firewall).

The contradictory reports about the status of sspifilt.exe and where to
load sspifilt.exe via different property panels in the IIS 5.0 manager
is very confusing and I found no reference to this elsewhere or in the
MS KB. Instead I found many references of people who struggled with the
same problem.

--theo

Theo Kanter wrote:
> My Win2K professional (SP4) machine runs an IIS5.0 web server with
> Frontpage2K extensions. Everything works OK except that I can't get SSL
> to work. I installed a certificate following the MS guidelines. BUT:
>
> The ISAPI tab via the web server properties in the IIS manager shows a
> big fat red arrow pointing down. The priority is *Unknown*. The SSL
> filter (sspifilt.dll) is located in C:\WINNT\system32\inetsrv\
>
> Attempts to browse the same web pages via https fail (obviously). I
> tried nearly everything. What is preventing sspifilt.dll to load itself?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Theo