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Installing IIS Server on Windows XP

4 January 2009

To set up your own web server is not a hard thing to do. This post is showing you how to install IIS (Internet Information Server) on Windows XP and get your first welcome page up and running.

IIS server is shipped with Windows XP, you do not need to download or use any other third party software.

Table of Content

Requirement
Installing
Setup Website
Testing

Requirement

Microsoft Windows XP CD

Installing

Go to Start » Control Panel
if you are using Classic style menu, go to Start » Settings » Control Panel
Double Click on Add or Remove Programs icon
Add or Remove Programs appears, click on Add/Remove Windows Components
Windows Components Wizard appears, tick Internet Information Services (IIS) as shown
Click Details
Internet Information Services (IIS) appears, check the following detail and select those services that you need. If you are not sure, just leave it as default.
Click OK
Components/services are being installed
Installation is completed, click Finish when you see this dialog

Setup Website

In this demo, we are setting up a static website call My Demo Site

Create a test website

Create directory C:WorkBenchlocalsitedemosite
Create file call index.html
Open it with text editor and Paste the following codes

<html>
<head>
<title>My Demo Site</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>Page Heading</h1>
Hello and Welcome to my Demo Site!
</body>
</html>
Save file

Configure IIS Server to run test Website

Go to Start » Control Panel
if you are using Classic style menu, go to Start » Settings » Control Panel
Click on Performance and Maintenance » Administrative Tools
if you using Classic view, just double click on Administrative Tools
Double click on Internet Information Services icon
Internet Information Services window appears
Right click on Default Website as shown, then select New » Virtual Directory...
Virtual Directory Creation Wizard appears
Click Next
Enter alias of your website (I use demosite for this example) then click Next
Browse or enter directory path where your website folder is, then click Next
Select access permission of your website directory. Leave it as default if you are unsure, then click Next
Finish Virtual Directory Creation Wizard, click Finish
Now go back to your Internet Information Services window, and we adding new default file "index.html" which will be executed by default when you browse to root directory of your website
Right click on Default Web Site » Properties
Default Web Site Properties window appears
Click Add..
Enter "index.html" in Add Default Document dialog then click OK