Install IIS on Windows XP Professional - Step I
In order to work on an ASP web site on your local computer, you must have Windows Internet Information Services installed and operational. In this tutorial I will show you how to do it for Windows XP Professional. Windows 2000 installation is very similar.
Anybody using Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows 98 Second Edition will need to install the Personal Web Server. I won't cover the installation of PWS in this tutorial because I don't have a computer with any of those operating systems installed.
The following are some good links for installing and setting up the Personal Web Server.
How to set up PWS on Your Machine
How to Install Microsoft Personal Web Server on a Windows 98 computer
UltraDevGuru.com Setting up Microsoft PWS 4.0
Web Wiz Guide - Installing Personal Web Server on Windows 98
Microsoft states "Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me) does not include or support any versions (1.0, 2.0, 4.0) of Microsoft Personal Web Server (PWS)" but points you towards the installation of PWS here.
Windows XP Home Edition users are out of luck. Microsoft states "Windows XP Home Edition does not include or support any versions (1.0, 2.0, 4.0) of Microsoft Personal Web Server (PWS). Users that need Web server functionality in a desktop operating system should use Windows XP Professional.". I have heard of workarounds, but they sound awful shaky to me, so beware!
With all of that said, the first thing that you need to do is to check if IIS is already installed. The easiest way to do that is to open Internet Explorer (or your browser of choice) and type the following in the address bar:
http://localhost or http://127.0.0.1
If IIS is installed, two windows will open. One of the windows is the Welcome to Windows XP Server Internet Services. The other window is the Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.1 Documentation.
If these windows don't open you need to continue the tutorial here.