I have encountered this issue on two separate occasions now. The first was during a report deployment to a new Report Server Virtual Directory and the second was trying to access the report manager via the URL: http://localhost/Reports. Each time I was presented with the same "Authentication Required" "Enter username and password for "" at http://localhost" screen:
On both occasions I searched high and low for a solution to the problem using a few trusty searches , but could not come up with an answer that worked for me. To cut a long story short the simple solution was to ensure that the URL was a) correct and b) fully qualified.
In the first instance (report deployment) the name of the Report Server Virtual Directory was a Named instance and so trying to deploy to http://localhost/reports was never going to work. Ensuring the right virtual directory was in the URL made all the difference. Go figure.
In the second instance (accessing the Report Manager) I had installed a default configuration of Reporting Services and therefore the setup had created the Virtual Directories required (Reports & ReportServer). However, having typed in the URL http://localhost/Reports I got the Authentication Required screen (as above). I found numerous solutions (supposedly) to this problem, all of which are listed at the end of the post, but I eventually just tried the full path of the home page: http://localhost/Reports/Pages/Folder.aspx and it worked like a dream. Again. Go figure.
Why the full path had to provided I don’t know. On previous occasions I have not have to do so and have been able to connect to the Report Manager using the abbreviated URL (http://localhost/Reports). If anyone does have a clue as to why this is I would gladly welcome the comments.
Things to note:
I am running Windows XP Pro SP2 with SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition.
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Other possible solutions, or at least other areas to check when experiencing this issue:
1. If you are using Firefox and still have problems with Authentication (whilst there are no issues with IE) try this very quick and easy fix.
2. Checking the security settings in Control Panel>Administrator Tools> IIS> Default website and right clicking Reports, choose Properties>Directory Security>Anonymous Access & Authentication control. A number of people suggest using the Anonymous setting only, although I have found that although you can then navigate to http://localhost/reports, no folder structure is available to you. It is therefore suggested that you use the Integrated Windows Authentication only.
3. Ensure that all the settings in Reporting Services Configuration are green. If not, attend to each of the areas in red.
4. Any other ideas? Post a comment that I can include here.
Hopefully, you haven’t had as painful a journey as I have in getting this exceedingly annoying issue (but scarily easy fix) sorted out.
Luke did you check the default website settings on your IIS server? If its not the SSRS website then the http://localhost/reports may be affected. I’m not an IIS guru so may be off track here (certainly out of my depth!) but its worth a try. Thanks for the links though, may prove useful in the future.
Cheers
Jonathan
I hadn’t checked IIS as I managed to sort it out. However, I’m sure other readers may find they need to. Thanks for the tip!
Use “Network Service” as the service identity for the Report Server web service.
Then in IIS go to the “Directory Security” tab in the properties window of both ReportServer and Report(Virtual Directories) and enable the Anonymous Access.
This worked for me.
Hi Samson,
Thanks for the tip. Am sure it will come in handy for other readers.
Hi Luke Hayler,
I have the problem that you seen. Have you fix that error?. How do you do to ignore “Authentication Required” dialog window?
Thanks.
bta