University Computer Help Desk

Problem

When you attempt to view your personal website (hosted on your personal share on Datastore), you receive one of the following errors:

The requested URL /~yourULID/ was not found on this server.

The page title says:

404 Not Found

- OR -

The webpage cannot be found.

The page title says:

HTTP 404 Not Found

Resolution

This error can be caused by two things:

• Your home page is not named correctly.
• Your website files are not be located in the "web" folder (all lower-case) on your personal Datastore share.

Home Page File Name

Make sure your home page file is named with one of the following:

• index.html (recommended)
• welcome.html
• default.html

In Windows, you may not be seeing the entire file name. To make sure file extensions are being displayed, do the following:

1. Within your personal share on Datastore, do one of the following:
   • In Windows Vista, click Organize > Folder and Search Options.
   • In Windows XP, click Tools > Folder Options.
2. Click the View tab.
3. Uncheck the option that says, Hide file extensions for known file types.
4. Click Apply and then OK.

This will allow you to see the entire name of your home page file. The .html extension must be at the end of your file name. If your file is named something like index.html.doc, change it so its name is just index.html.

The "web" Folder

Make sure your website files are located in the "web" folder on your personal Datastore share. This folder must be named  web in all lower-case letters (not WEB or Web), and it must be located at the top level of your personal Datastore share.

If you delete the "web" folder, you can simply create a new one. Make sure you name it web with all lower-case letters.

Windows

1. Open your personal share on Datastore.
2. Right-click on a blank area of the window.
3. Click New > Folder.
4. Enter web as the folder name.

Mac

1. Open your personal share on Datastore.
2. Click File > New Folder.
3. Enter web as the folder name.

Getting Help

If you complete these troubleshooting steps, but are still getting a "404 Not Found" error when you visit your website, you may stop by the University Computer Help Desk office in Julian Hall 115 for additional assistance.