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Microsoft URL Rewrite Module

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Last Updated: September 1, 2009 10:37 AM

Windows hosting accounts using IIS7 support the Microsoft® URL Rewrite Module, which rewrites complicated URLs into more user-friendly URLs based on rules specified by the webmaster in the account's web.config file.

NOTE: If your hosting account is labeled Windows Web Hosting, the Microsoft URL Rewrite Module is not supported. To check, log in to your Account Manager, and then click Hosting in the My Products section. Your hosting account's label displays beneath its domain name.

For example, the Microsoft URL Rewrite Module could rewrite

http://www.coolexample.com/Vehicles/Category.aspx?Category=Cars
http://www.coolexample.com/Vehicles/Category.aspx?Category=Trucks
http://www.coolexample.com/Vehicles/Category.aspx?Category=Vans

as

http://www.coolexample.com/Cars
http://www.coolexample.com/Trucks
http://www.coolexample.com/Vans

For more information, see Microsoft’s® URL Rewrite Module documentation.

This feature also allows WordPress accounts to use Permalinks on Windows hosting. For more information on using Permalinks in WordPress, see their codex article.

NOTE: Since a web.config file controls a folder and all of its subdirectories, installing an application in both a folder and one of its subdirectories can cause errors, e.g., installing WordPress in the root and a subdirectory. To host multiple applications, each should be installed in its own subdirectory.