How to browse a website which allows directory browsing but has a default page?

Question

There is a website which allows directory browsing; I know this for sure because I can browse directories where there is no default page.

There is a directory which I want to browse, but it instead has a default page, so that page is displayed if I type the URL in my browser, or if I click on that directory when browsing the directory above it (which, as said, allows browsing).

How can I ask the web server to send me the directory listing instead of the default page?

I'm currently using Internet Explorer, but I don't mind using another browser if IE is not up to the task.

Answer 1

You can't.

In the standard configuration of all popular web servers, the term "allows browsing" only applies when the directory in question does not have a default page, to avoid introducing a large security hole.

(In some configurations (for example, DirectorySlash off in Apache2), http://example.com/path/ displays the index page while http://example.com/path returns the index, but this is very rare.)

The browser used does not matter; all they do is send a HTTP request and display returned data. It's entirely up to the server whether to display the index or the default page.