How to Run an ASP Website with IIS on Your Home Computer

Internet Information Services (IIS)

Internet Information Services (IIS) is useful when you are developing a website with Classic ASP. Other web programs like Dreamweaver or Visual Web Developer cannot compile ASP in the Preview mode. Preview and test your web pages with IIS on your local computer instead of uploading the files to your host/remote server every time you make a change.

Things You'll Need

• Windows XP Professional
• IIS 5.1 (on XP disc)
• An ASP web page
• A browser like IE or Firefox

Instructions

1. To install IIS, go to the Windows Control Panel. Click Add or Remove Programs. On the left side bar, click Add/Remove Windows Components. The Windows Components Wizard popup window is displayed. Checkmark the box next to Internet Information Services (IIS), then click Next. The setup will begin installation, but will stop and ask for you to locate a specific file. Insert your Windows XP Pro disc and continue. When setup is completed, click Finish.

2. To run IIS, go to the Windows Control Panel. Click Administrative Tools. If you are in category view, click Performance and Maintenance, then Administrative Tools. Several tools are listed. Double-click on Internet Information Services to start the program. You may also want to create a shortcut on your desktop. To do this, right-click and drag the icon for Internet Information Services to the desktop then release and choose Create Shortcut Here.

3. Now that IIS is running, you will need to tell it where to find your website files. On the left side, the IIS file explorer is displayed. Expand the plus sign next to your local computer, then expand the Web Sites folder. Expand the Default Web Site folder. Right-click on the Default Web Site folder and choose New > Virtual Directory. The Virtual Directory Wizard popup window is displayed. Follow the instructions for creating an alias (i.e. myDemoWebsite) and locating the folder on your computer that contains your web site files. On the last step, be sure to checkmark the boxes for Read and Run Scripts (such as ASP). To complete the wizard, click Next. Now you will see your new directory called 'myDemoWebsite' listed under the Default Web Site folder.

4. Finally it is time to preview your ASP website. When you click on your folder for 'myDemoWebsite' a list of all the files are displayed on the right panel. Select a file that you want to preview by right-clicking and then choosing Browse. The selected file will be opened in a browser window such as IE or Firefox. Your ASP page is now displayed and should be working properly. If you have ASP code that connects to a database or other ASP code such as include files, everything should be executed and displayed properly. The web page will look exactly the same in IIS as it will once you upload it to the host/remote server. The links to other web pages in your website will also work normally, so you can view your entire website and do not need to go back to IIS and browse each web page. If you edit a web page file, simply refresh the browser to view the changes.