Just for info. It
is supported. I started writing a new website and tried the include again and it works just fine.
Syntax I used is
<!-- #include file ="/commonHTML/header.html" -->
Where commonHTML is a project level folder.
You can even embed includes within includes if you feel the need.
I have embedded JavaScript in one also where the JavaScript only applied to the HTML in that include file so it only loads on pages that need it.
I have tested it on several platforms using several browsers and all seem to support it just fine so I assume that the include is performed on the server and therefore all pages are rendered as normal.
Not sure why my original test failed? It may be an IIS setting or something in the App Pool who knows / cares; it works! Yipee