Introduction

It is possible to install IIS7 (Microsoft’s web server) on most versions of Windows Vista. This guide shows you how to install IIS7 on Windows Vista and a few basics on using IIS7 to get you started.

Install IIS7

A fully functioning (but limited, more on that below) version of IIS7 can be installed on Vista Starter, Home Basic and Premium, Business, and Ultimate editions.

1. Go to the Control Panel and open Programs and Features.
2. Click Turn Windows features on or off in the left column.
3. Check off Internet Information Services and then click OK.

   [1]

Test IIS7

Once IIS7 is installed you can test if it’s working by opening Internet Explorer on your computer and go to http://localhost. You know IIS7 is working if you see a web page similar to the screen shot below.

[2]

Adding Your Website

To add your website to the Windows Vista web server you just created simply copy it in the C:\inetpub\wwwroot folder.

Limitations and Trouble Shooting

As far as I know these are the limitations of IIS7 running on Windows Vista.

• Request Execution Limit for Vista Basic, Starter, and Home Premium is 3. Ultimate can handle 10. The request execution limit is the number of times the web server is allowed to give a web page out at one time.
• Vista Ultimate is pretty much a full featured install other than the limitation of 10 simultaneous executions. Vista Home Premium is almost full featured. It doesn’t support FTP though.
• For a full list of features for every version see [3] this website.

Trouble Shooting

If you can’t connect to your website from another computer make sure your firewall on the web server allows connections on port 80.