Web server default pages - a recreation archive

The page a web server shows on a fresh install, before anyone configures it - collected and made faithful across the two big lineages. IIS from 1995 to today, and the major Linux servers. Each half has its own detailed README; this is the index.

webserver-default-pages/
├── iis/      Microsoft IIS - Windows NT 3.51 (1995) through Windows Server 2022
│   ├── README.md                     (the modern era, 6.0 -> 10)
│   └── IIS-4.0-and-earlier-FINDINGS.md (4.0 and the lost 1.0-3.0 pages)
└── linux/    nginx, Apache, Caddy
    └── README.md

iis/ - the Microsoft lineage

Folder	IIS	Windows	The page
(documented only)	1.0-3.0	NT 3.51 / NT 4.0 / NT4 SP3	lost - see FINDINGS
iis-4.0_nt4-optionpack	4.0	NT 4.0 Option Pack	"Welcome to IIS 4.0!" 3-tab site
iis-5.x_win2000-xp	5.0/5.1	Win 2000 / XP Pro	iisstart.asp + localstart.asp ASP pair
iis-6.0_server2003	6.0	Server 2003	"Under Construction" (reconstructed)
iis-7.0_vista-server2008	7.0	Vista / Server 2008	blue "IIS7" splash
iis-7.5_win7-server2008r2	7.5	Win 7 / Server 2008 R2	identical to 7.0
iis-8.0_win8-server2012	8.0	Win 8 / Server 2012	microsoft.com/web composited
iis-8.5_win81-server2012r2	8.5	Win 8.1 / Server 2012 R2	single image on #0072C6
iis-10_win10-client	10	Windows 10	"IIS Windows"
iis-10_server2016plus	10	Server 2016 / 2019 / 2022	"IIS Windows Server"

There is no IIS 9 - Microsoft jumped 8.5 to 10 to line up with Windows 10.

linux/ - nginx, Apache, Caddy

Folder	Server	The page
nginx	nginx (upstream / Debian)	"Welcome to nginx!"
nginx-rhel	nginx (RHEL / Fedora pkg)	"Welcome to nginx on Red Hat Enterprise Linux!" test page
apache-itworks	Apache HTTP Server (upstream)	"It works!" (a 45-byte one-liner)
apache-ubuntu	Apache (Debian / Ubuntu pkg)	"Apache2 Default Page"
apache-rocky	Apache (Rocky / EL9 pkg)	"HTTP Server Test Page ... Rocky Linux"
caddy	Caddy v2	"Caddy works!" / the slanted "Congratulations!" page

On Linux the "default page" is distro packaging, not the upstream project, which is why nginx and Apache each appear twice (plain upstream vs. the RHEL-family test page).

servers & proxies

Reverse proxies, caches, and application servers - their default landing and error pages.

Folder	Project	The page
tomcat	Apache Tomcat	"…successfully installed Tomcat. Congratulations!" ROOT page
varnish	Varnish Cache	the "Guru Meditation" 503
haproxy	HAProxy	"503 Service Unavailable"
squid	Squid	"ERROR: The requested URL could not be retrieved"
nginx-ingress	Kubernetes ingress-nginx	"default backend - 404"
envoy	Envoy	"no healthy upstream"
traefik	Traefik (Go net/http)	"404 page not found"
kong	Kong Gateway	"no Route matched with those values"
apisix	Apache APISIX	"404 Route Not Found"
tinyproxy	Tinyproxy	error page ("Generated by tinyproxy")
trafficserver	Apache Traffic Server	"Could Not Connect" / "Error"
openlitespeed	OpenLiteSpeed	"Congratulations…installed OpenLiteSpeed"

frameworks

Web-framework scaffolds - the page a new app shows before you've written any of your own.

Folder	Framework	The page
django	Django	"The install worked successfully! Congratulations!" (the rocket)
rails	Ruby on Rails	"Yay! You're on Rails!"
flask	Flask / Werkzeug	"404 Not Found"
spring-boot	Spring Boot	"Whitelabel Error Page"
laravel	Laravel	the default Tailwind welcome page
express	Express	"Cannot GET /"
fastapi	FastAPI	{"detail":"Not Found"}
nextjs	Next.js	"404 | This page could not be found"
phoenix	Phoenix	"Peace of mind from prototype to production"
gin	Gin (Go)	"404 page not found"
echo	Echo (Go)	{"message":"Not Found"}
sinatra	Sinatra	"Sinatra doesn't know this ditty."
create-react-app	Create React App	"Edit src/App.js and save to reload."
go-nethttp	Go net/http	"404 page not found" (with newline)
python-http-server	Python http.server	"Error response"
astro	Astro	"Welcome to Astro"
aspnet-core	ASP.NET Core	"Welcome"
vue	Vue	"You did it!"
hono	Hono	"404 Not Found"
koa	Koa	"Not Found"
rocket	Rocket (Rust)	"404: Not Found"
codeigniter	CodeIgniter	"Welcome to CodeIgniter 4!"
cakephp	CakePHP	"Welcome to CakePHP"
slim	Slim	"404 Not Found"
spark	Spark (Java)	"404 Not found"

Provenance

Almost everything here is byte-exact, pulled from a genuine source - a live server still serving its stock default, a git/dist-git blob, a real distro package, or files you supplied (the Ubuntu page, the XP localstart mirror). Two honest exceptions, both labeled in place:

• IIS 6.0 - visible "Under Construction" text is verified; the surrounding markup is a period-accurate reconstruction (the original bytes weren't recoverable).
• IIS 1.0-3.0 - documented, not recreated. No trustworthy copy of those pages survives; IIS-4.0-and-earlier-FINDINGS.md explains what they were and why 4.0 is the oldest recoverable one.

The IIS 5.x localstart.asp deserves a note: it's genuine, but assembled from two real captures - the ADSI/ASP header from a source-leaking box, and the body/CSS/JS from an HTTrack mirror of a live XP machine - with the resolved template expressions re-inserted. Details in iis/iis-5.x_win2000-xp/README.md.

Conventions

• Line endings: IIS files are CRLF (Windows originals); Linux files are LF. Byte counts on the IIS HTML match the live Content-Lengths (e.g. 689 for 7.x, 703 for 10 Server).
• Images are included where a page needs them (the XP GIFs, ubuntu-logo.png, the nginx/Rocky poweredby badges). A few still-external ones are noted per-folder.
• Empty dirs: there are none. If you ever mkdir {a,b,c} in a shell that doesn't do brace expansion (POSIX sh/dash) you'll create one literal {a,b,c} folder; clean any up with find . -depth -type d -name '{*}' -empty -delete.

Related projects

Other repositories that recreate or serve default / decoy web-server pages:

• fake-iis (main) — by Aayush Sinha. A Dockerized decoy (OpenResty/nginx) that serves a pixel-perfect fake Microsoft IIS 8.0 site: spoofed Server / X-Powered-By headers and IIS-styled 403 / 404 / 500 pages. MIT-licensed; prebuilt image at ghcr.io/aayusharyan/fake-iis.

Standards & deviations

Built to the TGWAB Dev Standards as a Class C micro-project — a public reference gallery on GitHub Pages, MIT, no custom domain.

• §4: one Actions workflow builds this site, not the platform's own build. The gallery is generated, not authored: gallery/build.mjs assembles the index and gallery/shoot.mjs screenshots every entry with Playwright and headless Chromium. GitHub Pages' own build runs neither, so the platform build would publish an index with no screenshots behind it. There is exactly one workflow (pages.yml) and no second deploy path, which is what §4 binds; the platform-build preference is what is deviated from.

License

The collected pages here each remain © their respective owners and are included for archival, educational, and identification purposes. The repository's own original work — its structure, the README / NOTICE / SOURCES docs, any scripts, and the first-party pages (ari-integration.com/, site-maintenance/) — is released under the MIT License.

• NOTICE.md — what the license does and doesn't cover, plus the trademark, logo, and government-seal caveats (the parts that are easy to forget).
• SOURCES.md — per-item origin map (live host / repo / package) and how faithful each copy is.