Product Support Article
Article ID: PSA100314 

Article Topic:

Error message "You are not authorized to view this page.", "HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden" when attempting to access attachment hyperlinks through Outlook Web Access.

Applies To:

E-mail Management Server 2006
Microsoft Exchange 2003

Conditions / Symptoms

When accessing an existing file through a hyperlink in Outlook Web Access you receive the error message "You are not authorized to view this page.", "HTTP Error 403 - Forbidden".

Issue / Cause

This problem may be caused by having the web site for your attachments on the same server as Microsoft Exchange 2003.

When a hyperlink is accessed through Outlook Web Access, it is modified to go through the “redir.asp” page. If the web site hosting your attachments is the same as the web site hosting Microsoft Exchange 2003 then the request will be redirected back to the same server address.  This is not allowed in Microsoft Exchange 2003 by design which causes the 403-forbidden error. Some additional information regarding this can be found on the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog at the following location:
http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2004/07/26/197289.aspx

Work Around / Fix

Create another DNS A record to the same server with another name, for example if the website hosting your attachment files is "www.MADSolutions.com", use another name for the web site in the record such as "attachments.MADSolutions.com".

In your E-mail Management Server policy instead of specifying the original web site address  for hyperlinks (example: "www.MADSolutions.com"), use the new entry you created (example: "attachments.MADSolutions.com")

Once you make this change you can fix the hyperlinks that have already been placed in your e-mail by creating a new E-mail Management Server policy and rule and by specifying the following:
- Condition: Hyperlinks to files moved by MADSolutions
- Action: Redirect the hyperlink. Configure this action to find the original site name, www.MADSolutions.com and replace it with the new name you created above (example: attachments.MADSolutions.com).
Run this new policy on your mailbox to redirect the hyperlinks in your e-mail messages.

Note: Microsoft Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access does not have this problem and will allow use of hyperlinks to the same address without additional problems. More information for this is available at the following Microsoft document under the section “Productivity Boost – Link Access”:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/9/a/59a63f2c-602d-41db-afc4-552936f80534/Microsoft%20Exchange%20Server%202007%20White%20Paper.doc