Installing IIS 7.0 on Windows Vista

Introduction 

This article describes installation of IIS using the Windows Vista Control Panel – Windows Features Wizard. New for Windows Vista the Windows Features Wizard:

• Replaces the Windows XP Windows Components Wizard from Add/Remove Windows Components:
• Allow you to install / uninstall Windows Vista Optional Features
• Provides quick status on state of installed Windows Features

Note: You can use the Web Platform Installer (Web PI) to easily install IIS, and applications that run on IIS. The Web PI is a free, lightweight tool that lets you install IIS and related technologies such as ASP.NET, SQL Server Express, Visual Web Developer, other popular Web applications, and more. Because the Web PI installs the latest versions of available Web Platform offerings, with just a few simple clicks you can download and install any new tools or updates. To learn more about the Web PI, see Learn more and install the Web PI.

Windows Vista Editions Supported

This walkthrough is for the following editions of Windows Vista:

• Windows Vista Ultimate Edition
• Windows Vista Home Premium Edition
• Windows Vista Business Edition
• Windows Vista Enterprise Edition

Make sure you have installed one of the supported editions of Windows Vista before proceeding.

User Account Control (UAC) Security

Make sure you have administrative privileges on the machine: by default, you do not have them if you are logged on as a user other than the built-in Administrator account, even if this user was added to the local Administrators group on the machine (this is a new security feature in Windows Server® 2008, called LUA, which is beyond the scope of this article). Make sure to either log-on as the built-in Administrator account, or explicitly invoke applications as the built-in Administrator, as needed, using the "runas" cmd-line tool. For example, to launch notepad.exe you could run this command: "runas /user:administrator notepad.exe". You will be prompted for the password of the Administrator account. It's useful to have a cmd-box shell that's already elevated, by running "runas /user:administrator cmd.exe". Every application you run from that cmd-box will be elevated as well, and you will not need to use the "runas" syntax from that cmd-box. 

Windows Security Dialog – LUA

If you are logged on to an account other than the built in local administrator account, you may see the following security alert dialog. 

Figure 1: User Account Control Security Dialog

Click Allow to continue running the setup steps in this walkthrough.

Step 1: Start Control Panel

To open Windows Features dialog:

• Click Start Menu
• Click Control Panel

 

Figure 2: Windows Security Dialog

 

Step 2: Control Panel

The Windows Control Panel is displayed:

Figure 3: Windows Control Panel

• In the Windows Control Panel double click Programs
  

Step 3: Select Turn On or Off Windows Features

Control Panel Programs options are displayed:

• Click Turn On or Off Windows Features

 
Figure 4: Control Panel Install Options

• You may receive the Windows Security warning at this point

Figure 5: Windows Security Dialog

• Click Allow to continue
• The Turn Windows Features on or off dialog will be displayed

Step 4: The Windows Features Dialog

• Double click Internet Information Services
• Additional IIS features are displayed
• Check the check box next to Internet Information Services to select the feature for install

 

 

Figure 6: Windows Features - IIS

 

Step 5: IIS 7.0 Default Install Selections

• Note that the IIS 7.0 default install features are shown as selected

 
Figure 7: IIS 7.0 Feature Selections

Step 6: Explore IIS 7.0 Features Available

• To continue expanding features within the list, double click the feature to see sub-features
• For example Double Click on Web Management Tools to see tools installed by default

Figure 8: Feature Selection

 

Step 7: Select IIS 7.0 Features for Install

To install just the IIS 7.0 default features, click OK at this time. If you are installing IIS 7.0 for evaluation purposes, you may want to select additional features within Internet Information Services for installation.

• Check the check boxes for all IIS features you want to install
• After selecting IIS features, click OK to start installation

 

Figure 9: Installation Selection

Step 8: Install Progress

The following progress dialog is displayed:

 

Figure 10: Install Progress

Step 9: Install Complete

When the installation completes, the Windows Features dialog closes and you are returned to the Control Panel.

 

Step 10: Check IIS 7.0 install

You can now perform a quick check to verify that IIS 7.0 is installed:

• Start Internet Explorer web browser and enter the address http://localhost/
• You should see the default IIS 7.0 "Welcome" page.

Summary

In this article, you learned how to install IIS 7.0 on Windows Vista using Add/Remove Windows Features Wizard. Please see other setup articles for installing on Windows Server 2008, or installing IIS 7.0 using command line tools or scripts.

 

 

 

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Comments

1. Submitted on Mar 30 2008 by
   InSpokane I have gone through this tutorial step by step. The only difference between the tutorial an my setup is on step 6 I don't have FTP Publishing Service. When I get to the end, step 10, all I get is the browser message "Unable to Connect".
   
   The file that is supposed to display is located in C:inetpub/wwwroot/welcome.png and does run when I double click on it. Why doesn't the http://localhost/ command work?
2. Submitted on Sep 26 2008 by
   Chirung Yen I need to add the Window Authentication sub-feature in Security folder of World Wide Web Services. But when I open the security sub-folder, there is no "Window Authentication". Only "Basic Authentication", "IP Security", "Request Filtering", and
   "URL Authorization" show up in the Security folder. Is there anybody can tell me how
   to solve this problem? I'm using Window Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 installed. Do I need somehting else in order to see the "Window Authentication"?
3. Submitted on Sep 30 2008 by
   SaadL Hi Chirung. Unfortunately, Windows Authentication is not available on Vista Home Premium. Vista Ultimate however does support this feature. Hope this helps.
4. Submitted on Jan 17 2009 by
   heynow Hi there!
   I did the above (on a new Vista 64-bit), but I don't get the welcome screen. I went to the Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager in the Control Panel and it appears to show that the web server is up and running. But in fact it isn't. When I go to http://localhost, I get a message: "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage." When I type in the localhost name I thought it would be, I get a message: "the address is not valid" and the URL changes to "http:///". Any clues?
5. Submitted on Mar 13 2009 by
   AndeDana If Vista Home Premium doesn't have Windows Authentication, is there an action to take to enable it through the MMC? If not, what are the ramifications of not being able to select this? I, too, have been through these steps, and I can get to the IIS 7.0 splash screen, I can view pure HTML and javascript, but .asp language doesn't display. Can't find the problem despite DAYS on this website! :(
   ??
6. Submitted on Mar 19 2009 by
   lextm Windows Integrated authentication method in IIS requires domain environment. Windows Vista Home Premium cannot join domain so IIS on it does not support Windows Integrated authentication. Therefore, even if there is Windows Authentication feature installed, it shall not work. So why should it be packaged? :)
   
   Also ASP feature is not installed by default. You need to turn this feature on.
7. Submitted on Mar 21 2009 by
   rdaddis >>>Therefore, even if there is Windows Authentication feature installed, it shall not work. So why should it be packaged?
   
   My understanding is that the Windows Authentication service is required to use the Server Explorer feature of Visual Studio 2008.
   
   Furthermore, most computers available through retail channels are pre-configured with a Vista Home edition.
   
   Therefore, Visual Studio developers who want to use Server Explorer to manage sql server (databases, stored procedures, etc.) must upgrade to Vista Ultimate in order to utilize this feature of Visual Studio.
   
   For most developers, this is an expensive (financially and productivity) endeavor. I consider this another "cost" of doing business with Microsoft:-(
   
   Hello Microsoft?
   
8. Submitted on Apr 20 2009 by
   rlockard Please - I have been trying to get IIS7 to serve ASP pages to no avail; all required options have been selected for ASP. Vanilla html pages work fine; ASP pages which worked fine on XP Pro totally puke on Vista; do I need Ultimate to serve ASP pages? I have heard on other boards that people have issues getting any database pages to work. Can someone tell me if it is possible to serve ASP if I am running Vista Home Premium 64-bit? Or will I need to upgrade to Ultimate for full functionality? I dont mind paying for the upgrade if that is what is required, but I need to know for certain if that is the problem because I dont have money to throw away.
9. Submitted on Apr 22 2009 by
   robmcm You can certainly use Classic ASP on Vista, but since you are using a 64-bit version of Windows a database application might not work by default because ODBC is 32-bit only. But that being said, you can configure your IIS application to use a 32-bit worker process. You can configure this by setting Enable 32-bit Applications to True for your application pool.
10. Submitted on Apr 30 2009 by
    lextm rdaddis, I don't know the statistics, but most developers may consider using Windows Vista Business or Ultimate.
    
    As you mentioned Server Explorer, I guess your company is a startup or small business. Then please consider our open license system. Please talk to our sale representatives locally so that they can provide you suitable solution to buy our products.
    
    Also many computer vendors such as Dell provide customers nice offer to upgrade from Windows Vista Home to upper editions. You may consider contact your computer vendor to see if it has such offer.
11. Submitted on May 15 2009 by
    tieuphi2006 You can help me something, i can't IIS 7.0 Features for Install in vista sp1
    because it's have a ASP pages to no avail.
12. Submitted on Jun 04 2009 by
    Betchers I've been trying to understand a tutorial on another website, but it is telling me I need to type a command into a script.
    
    Tutorial is at http://tutorials.whichdomainhost.co.uk/windows/installing-iis7-in-vista
    
    And after the installation goes on to say;
    
    • Type the following command into a script:
    
    start /w pkgmgr /iu:IIS-WebServerRole;IIS-WebServer;IIS-CommonHttpFeatures;IIS-StaticContent;
    IIS-DefaultDocument;IIS-DirectoryBrowsing;IIS-HttpErrors;IIS-HttpRedirect;
    IIS-ApplicationDevelopment;IIS-ASPNET;IIS-NetFxExtensibility;IIS-ASP;IIS-CGI;
    IIS-ISAPIExtensions;IIS-ISAPIFilter;IIS-ServerSideIncludes;
    IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics;IIS-HttpLogging;IIS-LoggingLibraries;
    IIS-RequestMonitor;IIS-HttpTracing;IIS-CustomLogging;IIS-ODBCLogging;
    IIS-Security;IIS-BasicAuthentication;IIS-WindowsAuthentication;
    IIS-DigestAuthentication;IIS-ClientCertificateMappingAuthentication;
    IIS-IISCertificateMappingAuthentication;IIS-URLAuthorization;
    IIS-RequestFiltering;IIS-IPSecurity;IIS-Performance;IIS-HttpCompressionStatic;
    IIS-HttpCompressionDynamic;IIS-WebServerManagementTools;IIS-ManagementConsole;
    IIS-ManagementScriptingTools;IIS-ManagementService;IIS-IIS6ManagementCompatibility;
    IIS-Metabase;IIS-WMICompatibility;IIS-LegacyScripts;IIS-LegacySnapIn;
    IIS-FTPPublishingService;IIS-FTPServer;IIS-FTPManagement;
    WAS-WindowsActivationService;WAS-ProcessModel;WAS-NetFxEnvironment;
    WAS-ConfigurationAPI
    
    Now you need to open your web browser and type the following URL for testing
    
    http://localhost
    
    I'm assuming it's just an alternative method of setting it up if the normal installation doesn't go too well?
13. Submitted on Jun 04 2009 by
    Betchers I've been trying to understand a tutorial on another website, but it is telling me I need to type a command into a script.
    
    Tutorial is at
    
    http://tutorials.whichdomainhost.co.uk/windows/installing-iis7-in-vista
    
    And after the installation goes on to say;
    
    • Type the following command into a script:
    
    start /w pkgmgr /iu:IIS-WebServerRole;IIS-WebServer;IIS-CommonHttpFeatures;IIS-StaticContent;
    IIS-DefaultDocument;IIS-DirectoryBrowsing;IIS-HttpErrors;IIS-HttpRedirect;
    IIS-ApplicationDevelopment;IIS-ASPNET;IIS-NetFxExtensibility;IIS-ASP;IIS-CGI;
    IIS-ISAPIExtensions;IIS-ISAPIFilter;IIS-ServerSideIncludes;
    IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics;IIS-HttpLogging;IIS-LoggingLibraries;
    IIS-RequestMonitor;IIS-HttpTracing;IIS-CustomLogging;IIS-ODBCLogging;
    IIS-Security;IIS-BasicAuthentication;IIS-WindowsAuthentication;
    IIS-DigestAuthentication;IIS-ClientCertificateMappingAuthentication;
    IIS-IISCertificateMappingAuthentication;IIS-URLAuthorization;
    IIS-RequestFiltering;IIS-IPSecurity;IIS-Performance;IIS-HttpCompressionStatic;
    IIS-HttpCompressionDynamic;IIS-WebServerManagementTools;IIS-ManagementConsole;
    IIS-ManagementScriptingTools;IIS-ManagementService;IIS-IIS6ManagementCompatibility;
    IIS-Metabase;IIS-WMICompatibility;IIS-LegacyScripts;IIS-LegacySnapIn;
    IIS-FTPPublishingService;IIS-FTPServer;IIS-FTPManagement;
    WAS-WindowsActivationService;WAS-ProcessModel;WAS-NetFxEnvironment;
    WAS-ConfigurationAPI
    
    Now you need to open your web browser and type the following URL for testing
    
    http://localhost
    
    I'm assuming it's just an alternative method of setting it up if the normal installation doesn't go too well?
14. Submitted on Jun 22 2009 by
    janedurnin I'm also trying to install IIS. It does not work through control panel and so I have tried by typing various commands in at the command prompt. I have seen various variations of what to type in and have tried loads including full version to scaled down versions. The last error message I got was '14098' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file. I am running Vista Ultimate (and am very new to all this) so if anyone can help in very simple terms it would be great.
    Thanks
15. Submitted on Jul 03 2009 by
    selari This tutorial does not work . There are a lot of problem with installing IIS. Try Apache.