Exchange - Making the OWA Login Page the Default Page on a Web Site

Microsoft Exchange Server

Page Last Reviewed: 03/03/2009

Exchange Server
Compatibility Information

Exchange
Server Version
Compatibility 5.5* No

2000 Yes

2003 Yes

2007 Yes

* May Adapt (More Information)

Making the OWA Login Page the Default Page on a Web Site
Author: Simon Butler, Exchange MVP, MCSE

OWA Section Home Page

If you have a specific machine for Outlook Web Access, you may want users to go to http://mail.example.com instead of http://mail.example.com/exchange/ . This is a simple change to the default web site on the machine that is hosting OWA.

It is more effective when used with Exchange 2003/2007 and Forms Based Authentication, as the users get a web page immediately - and without any authentication prompts - providing a level of confirmation that they have hit the correct address.

Windows 2000 / 2003
For Windows 2008 see further below

Start IIS Manager
Right click on the "Default Web Site" and choose "Properties".
Click on the "Home Directory" tab.
Change the first option to "A redirection to a URL".
Enter "/exchange" in to the box (minus quotes) if Exchange 2000, Exchange 2003, or Exchange 2007 co-existing with Exchange 2003 systems. If you are using a native Exchange 2007 environment (so do not have the /exchange URL available) use /owa instead.
Change the entry below to "A directory below URL entered".
Click Apply/OK.
If you are prompted about changing child objects, click cancel so that nothing else is changed.
Close the IIS Manager.
Test.

Complete Configuration Screenshot - Windows 2000/2003
The screenshot below shows a complete configuration.

Fig 1: Screenshot - Default Web Site configured for OWA to be the default home page - Windows 2000/2003

Co-Existing with Outlook Mobile Access - Exchange 2003

If you want to do a similar trick with Outlook Mobile Access, then you will have to customise the forms based login page or modify the default.asp file in the root of the web site to detect and redirect depending on which device is accessing the site.

Windows 2008

For Windows 2008, you must use the default web page method. The HTTP redirect option within IIS Manager does not work, and will cause a loop and stop OWA from functioning. Save the code below as index.htm and place it in the root of the web site (wwwroot on a default installation). However the code below is for a native Exchange 2007 machine. If you are co-existing with Exchange 2003 then change the /owa/ to /exchange/ .

<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0; URL=/owa/"> <title>Redirect</title> </head> <body> <p><a href="/owa/">Redirect</a></p> </body> </html>

Windows Server Update Services 2.0

If you have a dedicated web site for WSUS then this trick also works for that web site Simply change the /exchange for /wsusadmin. Users do not need to access the web site and it does not affect the operation of the service.

Related Links

Outlook Web Access Redirect Pages: http://www.amset.info/exchange/owa-redirectpages.asp

Last Page Update:
03/03/2009

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