Redirect *.htm files to *.html files on a Windows Server (301 redirect doesn't work)

That's a possibility, but unfortunately there are lots of nested Flash files with links to the HTML files - it would be MUCH faster & easier to redirect than to change & test all links site-wide.

Yeah...sorry to be difficult, but this is a shared server. (Otherwise, that looks like a great solution - I'll definitely bring it to their attention, since they don't offer such a feature in their control panel.) Is that my only hope for a redirect?

I would be happy enough to redirect only the home page, but doesn't a PHP redirect (for example) have to be in a PHP file?

Usually, yes.  Since this is IIS, you would be better off using ASP than PHP probably, but the same limitation applies.  You would typically use ASP scripting on an .asp page.

However, you can configure ASP to parse .htm files as well.  In that case, it would work.  This is where the server access and/or help from your host enters into it again.

Keep in mind that this is not something you would typically do as it would add to the server load (having ASP parse all of your normal pages), but since you would only have a handful of .htm pages and your main pages would be .html, it is a potential solution, albeit a lesser one to the solutions that have already been ruled out by virtue of this being a Windows/IIS-based shared hosting situation.

Well we might be on to something... The control panel allows me to enable server-side includes in .htm or .html files. (Presumably having just one .htm page would minimize server load.) The server can apparently use asp or asp.net - I've tried implementing both of those examples from your link above, but still no go. Any other steps I might be missing? (Examples from link above included here for reference:)

ASP Redirect
<%@ Language=VBScript %>
<%
Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently"
Response.AddHeader "Location","http://www.new-url.com/"
%>


ASP .NET Redirect
<script runat="server">
private void Page_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Response.Status = "301 Moved Permanently";
Response.AddHeader("Location","http://www.new-url.com");
}
</script>

The question is, have you configured ASP to parse pages without the .asp extension (ie. the .htm that you are using).

Create a ASP-script that parses Request.ServerVariables("DOCUMENT_URI")

<%
If inStr(Request.ServerVariables("DOCUMENT_URI"),".htm")>0 Then
  Response.Status="301 Moved Permanently"
  Response.AddHeader "Location", Request.ServerVariables("DOCUMENT_URI")&"l"
End If
%>

Configure IIS to use the ASP-file for 404-errors

humeniuk: I have confirmed that the server is configured to parse ASP in HTML documents, but it's still not working. Is the ASP code snippet above sufficient to do the job? Does it matter where it's located in the document, or what else is contained in the file?

henjoh09: Thanks for your suggestion. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make that work, either. I've tried to configure a custom 404 error page through the Control Panel, but it doesn't seem to take. I'm beginning to wonder if the Control Panel actually does anything at all...

The "Custom Errors"-configuration nead to point on a URL to be able to execute ASP-code. If using path to a local file like C:\inetpub\404.asp, you will get a static file.

"humeniuk: I have confirmed that the server is configured to parse ASP in HTML documents, but it's still not working. Is the ASP code snippet above sufficient to do the job? Does it matter where it's located in the document, or what else is contained in the file?"

The determination is made by file extension, so make sure it is .htm instead of .html.  The code above should do the job.  In terms of where the code is located, the code IS the page, there is no need for any other code other than the redirect.

FWIW - I like henjoh09's approach.  If you implement something like that to work for all .htm pages, it will make your life simpler as you won't need to create a new document for each redirected page.

I haven't gotten one of these to work, myself, but I think these are probably the best options out there. Thanks for your help.

These are great options and insights - thanks.

Unfortunately ... I agree with you.  They are the best options available, but none are as clean and elegant as the native Linux/Apache options.  More than anything it reflects the limitations of Win/IIS as a shared hosting platform IMO.

Agreed. I miss the power/functionality of Apache's mod_proxy and mod_rewrite when using IIS

A step-by-step similar to what I suggested is found in the following KB about forcing HTTP->HTTPS redirection: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/839357