Update: i have surfed the site with firefox and thus all was well.
i am making a few modifications to this article.
you dont need to enter the authentication nor change the provider from windows.
all you have to do is check the checkbox of anonymous access.
well it is working in FireFox but i cant get beyond the 401 in Internet Explorer.
Tried forms and any other authentication but for now they all seem to behave the same.
i even enabled anonymous login in the Internet Explorer security menu but it just expediates the display of the 401.
This guide is the extention of a Guide by Mark Harrison on configuring anonymous access to a Site in SharePoint 2007.
First you have to go to the administration site of the SharePoint server(You can look for its port in the IIS configuration on your server machine.)
after logging you will have to go to
1. Application Management (Tab or left list item).

2. Choose from application security the Authentication Providers item (on the right hand side of the screen)

3. Enable the Anonymous authentication.

Save the changes.
You might want now to restart the IIS. i found it saves time thinking what went wrong
4. Close the browser and open a new one pointing to the website you want to enable anonymous access.
5. In Site Actions (top right) open the sub menu Site Settings and in it choose Modify all Site settings

6. Under Users and Permissions choose Advanced Permissions

7. In the page choose Settings -> Anonymous Access

8. All that is left now is to set the level of access the Anonymous users will have to the site

Hope this one will save all of you the time i spent getting it done.



FiskerShao wrote,
| Link | April 4th, 2007 at 3:46 am
Gordon Dalgleish wrote,
I have tried this method but the Anonymous Access menu setting still does not appear. It is still the default menu item of ‘Access Requests’.
Any idea on the cause of this?
| Link | June 28th, 2006 at 2:48 pm
John wrote,
After following these instructions and then reloading my test portal, I get the error “401 Unauthorized” without any type of login prompt. Any ideas about how to fix this?
| Link | June 28th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
Administrator wrote,
I might have forgot some thing.
let me update it.
| Link | June 28th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
SharePoint Resources wrote,
| Link | June 28th, 2006 at 7:34 pm
Ekta wrote,
Its really good but would appreciate if you can provide with authentication.aspx
| Link | June 28th, 2006 at 9:29 pm
SharePoint 2007 Anonymous Access wrote,
| Link | June 29th, 2006 at 12:53 am
Administrator wrote,
you will be able to find authentication.aspx in the admin template foler at you server.
Most probably “C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\ADMIN”.
| Link | June 29th, 2006 at 11:33 am
Chris wrote,
Gordon Dalgleish – I had the same problem. What you need to do is – after clicking “Advanced Permissions”(see above) and you have to select the member provider name, make sure that you have the correct Web Application selected (top right of that window). My Web Application was set to :12346 but my site was on :80. Click that and select change Web Application and select the correct one you are working on.
| Link | July 14th, 2006 at 9:24 pm
Anonomoyous Access to sharepoint 2007 Site wrote,
| Link | July 20th, 2006 at 4:05 pm
如何启用WSS3.0的匿名访问? - 风中的舞蹈 - 博客园 wrote,
| Link | July 31st, 2006 at 8:26 am
Anonymous wrote,
I have done all of this as it says, but I still get prompted for login name and password when going to to the site. Not sure what I missed.
| Link | June 28th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Anonymous wrote,
I have done everything in this article. But, it didn’t work. It prompts for a login and password when I go to the site.
| Link | June 28th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Anonymous wrote,
I have done everything in this article. But, it didn’t work. It prompts for a login and password when I go to the site.
| Link | June 28th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Administrator wrote,
i see that many of you have not been able to make it in the latest version of the Share Point.
Is it correct that you have done it in a newer version?
| Link | July 1st, 2007 at 11:20 am
moss2007 site - Ƶ | IT168 wrote,
| Link | July 5th, 2008 at 11:33 am
sharepoint 2007 wss3.0 ļʹþ[ExcelHome] wrote,
| Link | July 12th, 2008 at 5:08 am
MOSS2007: Anonymous Access Settings « rinonu writes… wrote,
| Link | August 6th, 2008 at 8:58 am
Anonymous Access Site Still Prompting for Credentials : MOSS, 2007 wrote,
| Link | September 19th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Sodobozo wrote,
Our 401 issue was due to there still being the original “Default Website” in IIS. Yes the “Default Website” is “Stopped” after creating and extending a new MOSS site on Port 80, but this site still gets in the way of Anonymous Access on Port 80.
Delete the “Stopped” “Default Website” and Anonymous access miraculously starts working.
~bozo
| Link | September 23rd, 2008 at 10:22 am
Kuldeep singh wrote,
Thanks budy,
I forgot that….you remember me and save my time.
Kuldeep Kadyan
| Link | October 12th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Marc wrote,
I deleted the default IIS site and still get the 401 error on all subsites. The main site allows anon access, but subsites give a 401 error. I have also tried setting the subsites to allow anon access, but they should have inherited this anyway. Doesn’t matter, it still doesn’t work on subsites and I still get 401 error. Has anyone had an issue with subsites and overcome it? Again, the root site correctly allows anon access, but subsites give 401 error.
| Link | October 28th, 2008 at 3:49 am
Mark Harrison: MOSS 2007 Enable Anonymous wrote,
| Link | January 12th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
anaonymous access Sharepoit 2007 - Dogpile Web Search wrote,
| Link | April 18th, 2009 at 12:47 am