The answer was to add an .htaccess file in the directory as Apache blocks access to this file by default

I'm getting this problem too. I'll try the .htaccess (what did you have to put in it?) but I don't think Apache is source of the problem.

If I open the page in the a browser it doesn't return a 403.

Update:
I'm nearly sure I'm right now. Access ogs are below:

87.114.x.x- - [22/Mar/2008:17:33:09 -0400] "GET /blogs/index.php/everythingulster HTTP/1.0" 301 348 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; Windows Live Writer 1.0)"
87.114.x.x - - [22/Mar/2008:17:33:11 -0400] "GET /blog/index.php/everythingulster HTTP/1.0" 200 66760 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; Windows Live Writer 1.0)"
87.114.x.x - - [22/Mar/2008:17:33:12 -0400] "GET /blog/xmlsrv/rsd.php?blog=2 HTTP/1.0" 200 1204 "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; Windows Live Writer 1.0)"
87.114.x.x - - [22/Mar/2008:17:33:12 -0400] "POST /blog/xmlsrv/xmlrpc.php HTTP/1.0" 403 - "-" "Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 6.0; Windows Live Writer 1.0)"

If you'll notice above, Windows Live Writer requests rsd.php before it requests xmlrpc.php. The RSD file is in the same directory and is returned fine (200). So there isn't a problem with accessing this directory.

Do I need to activate XML RPC in the admin somewhere?

You can try fiddling with the filepermission of xmrpc.php. Start with 777 and work your way back. The 403 error is a permission thing, isn't it?

Good luck

Afwas wrote:

You can try fiddling with the filepermission of xmrpc.php. Start with 777 and work your way back. The 403 error is a permission thing, isn't it?

Good luck

No difference I'm afraid. The same 403 error.

Update

I think I've it sussed. I added the following to a new .htaccess file:

<Files xmlrpc.php>
SecFilterInheritance Off
</Files>

Actually found the solution thanks to a forum posting from someoe having similar problems with wordpress. It seems web hosts are blocking files called xmlrpc due to a security issue with earlier versions of Wordpress - or so the story goes.

See http://wordpress.org/support/topic/157608 and http://groups.msn.com/windowslivewriter/generaltopics.msnw?action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=786&LastModified=4675590334488039596

For reference:
I think the error message was:

The server reported an error with the following URL:

http://www.everythingulster.com/blog/xmlsrv/xmlrpc.php

403 Forbidden

Well, it was a permission thing afrwe all :). Thanks for reporting the solution.

Have fun

hello, how do i make a new .htaccess file and where do i put it? also in live writer it asks for a remote publishing url . what do i put there? is it the location of the index.php file? thanks

B2evolution comes with a file called sample.htaccess.
You look for sample.htaccess in the root of the B2evolution install on the server and rename it to .htaccess. So remove the "sapmle" part and leave the dot.
This .htaccess is a good starting point if you need to change something.

Good luck

i tried this... we had Windows Live Writer working before. but we had to make the blog public and we really want it private. now i cant seem to get it to work at all. public or private :S

this problem only occurs (in my experience) when you change the blog to private. (changing the "_main.inc.php" file login required from "false" to "true" .

I was just wondering if anyone has found a way aorund this. Thanks.

i tried with the .htaccess file it does NOT work :(