IIS ftp server trouble

[Dick Larson]

Hi,

I've been using the ftp server of IIS in Windows XP pro
for over a year and Windows 2000 for a time before that
with the same problem. Every so often, at thus far
untraceable times, it quits working and gives clients
attempting to connect a generic "Windows can not access
the folder. ... you may lack permissions" message. It is
simple anonymous ftp, but I can't even login as
Administrator from an ftp client.

I've disabled my firewall temporarily to get it out of the
way, but that's not the problem.

I'm using NTFS and have IUSR_<host> with read and write
permissions on ftproot and below. The ftp server
properties have read and write enabled for anonymous ftp
and the other settings are the same as when it works.

There have been times where uninstalling and reinstalling
IIS with ftp has made it work, but even that does no good
now. The only solution is basically a reinstall of the OS;
in reality I restore a previous image of the OS that did
work, and it again works (I use Powerquest Drive Image,
which seems to be similar to Ghost). So it works again for
a while and then, usually after I reboot the server, it
quits working.

I've found nothing on the Microsoft web site for IIS ftp
trouble. The web server part has never had a problem.

Does anyone have any idea what might be getting in the way
of a simple anonymous ftp site that causes it to quit
working?

Thanks much,
Dick Larson