Permission issue when editing a page using SharePoint Designer

Question

I am using Search Server 2008 based on SharePoint Server 2007 Enterprise with Windows Server 2008 Enterprise.

I have tried the search function by using IE to access address http://<machinename>, and everything is fine with search functions (e.g. I can search page content by keywords). Now I want to use SharePoint Designer to customize the page.

• But when I use SharePoint Designer to open http://<machinename>, I met with warning that the site is protected by password;
• And when I use SharePoint Designer to open http://<machinename>/default.aspx or http://<machinename>/results.aspx, I met with warning that I have no permission to edit the page, and asking to open a readonly copy.

I am using administrator to login Windows. Why I do not have permission?

Answer 1

If you want to customize search pages, its a good practice to create your own search result page instead of changing the OOTB pages.

By changing the page by SPD you will unghost/customize the pages. This will make upgrade scenarios much harder.

Instead you should consider exactly what you want to change. If its only the way search results is being presented, you could edit the XSLT used for rendering the core results web part. More here.. Also Mathew McDermott has a blog series about this. Another good article on this subject here.

Theres also a guide for how to obtain what you want by creating a custom search page in Search Center with tabs here

hth Anders Rask