Working With WordPress and Windows IIS
I was working on a Windows 7 machine and I needed to get all the Microsoft web and SQL Server stuff on it for an upcoming project. I grabbed the Microsoft Web Platform Installer 2.0 and started checking boxes. While exploring the options I noticed that it offered to install WordPress (along with quite a slew of other open source apps). I was intrigued so I checked that box too and started the installer.
The Web Platform Installer is smart enough to grab pre-requisite software so not only did it installed IIS, SQL Server Express and all the .NET stuff I asked for, but since I asked for WP it also installed PHP 5 and MySQL. Not only that, but it then prompted me for the usual stuff you deal with when installing WP and gave me a link to my completed site.
Bam. Just like that, I had a working WordPress site hosted on my Windows box. Not only that, but Permalinks and auto upgrade worked too! Pretty slick, really. A nice, native, alternative to a WampServer or XAMPP.
This article could end right there, but… Intrigued, I thought I’d experiment a bit more.
I fired up an XP machine, downloaded the Web Platform Installer, only checked “WordPress” and then started the installer. With XP, if IIS isn’t already on there you will get prompted for the install CD for that part – but everything else was downloaded and installed on the fly.
WordPress works fine under XP but there are no pretty Permalinks (just “almost pretty”) on this older version of IIS (version 5.1). Also, the auto upgrader prompts for FTP credentials instead of just upgrading. Probably a permissions issue but I didn’t chase it down as I don’t spend much time on XP anymore.
[note: if you need to sort this out try the Process Monitor tool as mentioned below]
Next I tried Vista. Same routine, only selected “WordPress” and ran Web Platform Installer. Wasn’t prompted to install any other media, unlike XP, and after a brief wait and some WP setup prompts it was done.
With Vista I got a more modern version of IIS and Pretty Permalinks worked right away – but with a wrinkle. I had to create and populate the web.config file manually as WP couldn’t do it automatically. Oh, and the auto upgrader took me the FTP route. Once again, I figured I had a permissions issue but this time I decided to chase it down.
Grabbed my old friend, Process Monitor, and did some monitoring to see what was up. It didn’t take long:
I explored that Access Denied line to see what the user was and found that it was IUSR. I went to IIS Manager, expanded down to my WordPress site and then right-clicked and chose “Edit Permissions…”. In the result dialog I chose the “Security” tab, clicked “Edit…” and then added the IUSR user with “Modify” level permissions.
Now upgrades happen automatically and Permalink changes require no manual intervention. Now, I can’t speak to the security of this approach – but then I’d never expose a Vista server live on the internet either!
Going full circle I next tried just the WordPress install on another Windows 7 machine. To make a long story short, it was just like the Vista story above. So, something I installed my first time around (with all the other .NET stuff) changes permissions around a bit. Or, perhaps it was the fact that on that first install I created the WP installation as a new IIS site, not as part of the Default. Something else to test on another day…
Possibly Related posts:
- Web Platform Installer Updated
- Testing New WordPress Versions Part 1: XAMPP
- Microsoft Web Platform Installer
- Web Platform Installer
- Quick Tip: WordPress on 1and1.com
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Flair and Sparklies
Chris,
Thanks for the GREAT info. Since my laptop is being upgraded to Windows 7 this weekend, I will try the Microsoft Web Platform Installer once I have the box back.
THANKS