This article is available also in my blog,
check it out here.
Introduction
When you install Windows, it doesn't
automatically install IIS for you. Instead, you have to install it manually. If
you have downloaded a new version of IIS from IIS website, you can use the setup
file to install IIS on your machine. If you prefer the version of IIS that ships
with your Windows edition, you can install it using Windows Components
installer, and that what we are going to do next.
IIS on Windows XP
To install IIS on Windows XP follow those
steps:
- Go to Control Panel -> Add or Remove
Programs -> Add/Remove Windows Components.
- Go down in the list and check Internet
Information Services (see figure 1.)
- You can also click Details to choose
additional services and functionalities to install (e.g. SMTP service.)
- Click Next and provide your Windows CD or
Windows installation files folder to continue.
Now you can go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools and run IIS from there.
You can also browse to http://localhost and see your new homepage (enjoy!)
IIS on Windows Vista and Windows 7
Installing IIS on Windows Vista/7 is very
similar, just follow those steps:
- Go to Control Panel -> Programs and
Features -> Turn Windows Features on or off.
- In the Windows Features dialog (see figure
2,) check Internet Information Services node.
- You can also select any additional
services to install from the child nodes (e.g. FTP services.)
- Click OK to complete the installation. A
system reboot might be required.
Now go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools to run the IIS. You can also go
to http://localhost to see your new homepage.
Running IIS
Personally, I don't like running IIS from
Administrative Tools. I like to use the Run command to run everything on my PC
and that's, on my opinion, 3 times faster than everything else (of course when
using the keyboard not the mouse.)
To be able to launch IIS from the Run command,
you need to add the IIS directory (%windir%\System32\inetsrv) to the command
search path which is available in system environment variables, and that can be
done using the following steps:
- Open System Settings (right click Computer
and choose properties, or preferably by pressing Start + Pause Break
buttons.)
- If you are using Windows Vista or Windows
7 choose Advanced System Settings from the left pane.
- Go to Advanced -> Environment Variables
(see figure 3.)
- In the bottom list (System Variables)
select Path and click Edit.
- Beware not to fail this step. In the
Variable Value field, add the symbol ; to the end of the value (if it's not
already added) and then append the following text:
%windir%\System32\inetsrv
- Click OK 3 times.
Now go to Run (Start + R) and write inetmgr (the name of the IIS Manager) to run
the IIS Management tool.
Have a nice day!