Running Excel 2000 on a Windows 2000 SP4 Terminal Server and using Remote Desktop Connection to access the server.

I'm trying to get a vendor-provided Excel Add-in to work on a server with all the security settings locked down. The app that's integrated with the Excel Add-in is making use of the .NET framework.

I have no problems connecting to the server using the plug-in. However, when the plug-in attempts to access a local web page on the server it produces a dialog box displaying an error similar to the standard 404 page not found error.

After trying this URL within a browser, I get the standard 404 error. By stepping through the macro code, the error occurs because the add-in doesn't recognize a directory with a period in it.

This doesn't pose a problem on any of the development servers which don't have the security settings locked down. However, when I rename the directory so that it doesn't have a period any longer and then correspondingly change the URL, it works.

The fact that I don't know what security settings are locked down on the server and the fact that my .NET knowledge is limited, makes me wonder if there's a setting on the server that was changed, such that the ASMX service that the plug-in uses doesn't recognize periods in directories no more.

This issue is probably too specific to be posting, but I thought I'd try anyways. Hopefully, someone with more .NET and/or security experience can provide me with some suggestions.

Thanks.