Installing IIS on Windows XP Professional - Networking Computer Tips

IIS or Internet Information Services allows you to do things such as host web sites or FTP sites on your computer that can be accessed by other computers on your network or on the Internet. IIS is not the only web hosting service available but it is commonly used with Windows computers since it's made by Microsoft.

In most cases, IIS comes with server or professional editions of Windows which makes it hard for people who have other versions of Windows such as XP home to do thins like host web sites.

Windows XP Professional includes Internet Information Services 5.1 which makes it possible for you to host your own Web site on the Internet or your internal intranet. IIS includes a broad range of administrative features for managing Web sites. But it is most likely not installed by default on your computer if you are running XP Professional. Unlike the server versions of IIS, the Windows XP installation of IIS can service only 10 simultaneous client connections and only one Web site. It does not have all the features of the server version. It also cannot be installed on Windows XP Home.

To install IIS 5.1 on Windows XP Pro follow these steps:

1. Click on Start then Settings and then Control Panel (or Start, Control Panel).

2 Double click Add or Remove Programs.

3. Click on Add/Remove Windows Components.

4. Click on Internet Information Services (IIS) and then click Details.

5. In Internet Information Services (IIS), check the boxes for SMTP Service and World Wide Web Service, and then click OK. You can check File Transfer Protocol as well if you want to setup an FTP site.