'The request is not supported' when starting IIS website

When attempting to start a website in IIS 5.1, you get the error message "The request is not supported". This error message is usually given because IIS 5.1 on Windows XP does not support more than one website running at a time.

In order to get around this error message you need to stop any other running websites and start the new website. In order to get the website to start at boot, you would need to disable or delete any other websites currently installed. I have not yet found a way to delete other websites in IIS 5.1, but if anyone has a solution, please post it using the comment system below.

I encountered this problem recently when installing the free VMware Server product on a Windows XP Professional system. The web interface for VMware would not start until I stopped the "Default Web Site" in IIS.

NOTE: The web management interface for VMware is not required and the product will work fine without it.

Author: DPAK
Created: Feb 10 2006 (last modified Oct 26 2007)
Categories: IIS - VMware Server
TechByte #121

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Comment posted by 'Daniel Fraser' on Jul 31 2007 @ 11:11:03
Thank you this was my problem too
Comment posted by 'Tod' on Oct 17 2007 @ 11:28:40
If you want to edit/remove other websites from your computer you will need to use a tool called "metaedit tool". Google it, it's from Microsoft.
Comment posted by 'Dan' on Aug 24 2008 @ 16:08:17
Thanks from me too, it was precisely my issue. I could swear I've had IIS installations that ran more than one website at a time, but this did the trick for me.