"Bad Request (Invalid Hostname)" - What's Up with That?

I set up a site several years ago for a client. The files were (are) hosted on their local server, not at a domain host. It was a difficult install because of that (as I recall). I have not heard from the client in three years.

Yesterday they called to say the site was down. Here is the error:
“Bad Request (Invalid Hostname)”

If I try to access the site with www.sitename.com I get a request for a password prompt. If I try to access the site without www I get the error mentioned above.

Can anyone suggest to me where to start to resolve this problem?

Thanks.

  • dz

Password: Looks like someone messed with the file level permissions in windows and IIS is prompting users for access. I would choose cancel on the password box and see what happens–it might just be an image with the wrong permissions on it.

Invalid Hostname: they need to add sitename.com to the hosts list for the virtual site.

Thanks — cancelling from the password prompt gets this error:
You are not authorized to view this page
You do not have permission to view this directory or page using the credentials that you supplied.

This is surely a problem with file permission …you need to check if browser access site are having everyone allowed.