Enabling IIS 5.1

Windows XP Home Edition does not support IIS


1. You may need to put your Windows XP Pro CD into the PC.

2. Go to Control Panel, ‘Add Remove Programs’, then ‘Add/Remove Windows Components’. In the Windows Components window, place a check mark beside ‘Internet Information Services (IIS)’, then click next, then click finish.

3. During installation, Windows creates a directory at C:inetpubwwwroot and places a few files there. You can view the home page of your web browser by typing ‘http://localhost’ or ‘http://COMPUTER_NAME’ (where COMPUTER_NAME is the actual name of your computer) into the address bar of any web browser. If you haven’t placed any files in C:inetpubwwwroot, you should see some basic IIS information in the web browser at this address.

4. Your web server is now working. The console for IIS is located in Control Panel > Administration Tools (if you use Classic View; under ‘Performance and Maintenance’ if not).

The next steps are for adding a new virtual directory.

5. To add a new virtual directory, open the IIS management console (step 4), click the plus signs on the left until you see ‘Default Web Site’, then right-click on it and select ‘New > Virtual Directory’.

6. The Virtual Directory Creation Wizard is now on the screen. Click Next on the first screen. Type an Alias for your website. This will be the name you will type after http://localhost to view your website ( example: http://localhost/ALIAS ). Click Next.

7. Now you must enter the directory path. Click ‘Browse’ and browse to the appropriate folder location for your new website’s files. This location will most likely be C:inetpubwwwrootALIAS. Click next.

8. On the last screen you will see security information. If you are not worried about implementing security, check all of the boxes. If you want to run ASP scripts, select the first two. Click next.

9. Your virtual directory is set up. You can view it by typing http://localhost/ALIAS into the web browser’s address bar.

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Chris Alexander is a freelance web designer for StudioThreeHundred.com. For more tutorials visit http://www.StudioThreeHundred.com