I've followed this thread for a while. I have the same problem.
I have read at least some of TFM, specifically, Configuring Manager Application Access
I have added a user with manager role. I have restarted the tomcat server. When I try to access http://localhost:8080/manager/html, I get:
HTTP Status 403 - Access to the requested resource has been denied
------------------------------------------------------------------------
type Status report
message Access to the requested resource has been denied
description Access to the specified resource (Access to the requested resource has been denied) has been forbidden.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Apache Tomcat/5.0.7
Prior to setting up a user with manager role, I did try to access this url and a password challenge was issued.
It didn't work, and ever since I have not been challenged again for username/password.
When I try to access admin/html, the username/password challenge is presented.
Yes, I do log out of admin when I'm done and want to try to access manager/html.
I do not have more than one java process running in the Task Manager (windows 2k), and that java process
does disappear when I stop the tomcat service. The java task reappears when I restart the tomcat service.