We’ll set up the basic features for developing in ASP.NET. Most websites should be up and running with no problems.
To start the installation, go to Start >> Control Panel >> Programs. Under Programs and Features, click “Turn Windows features on or offâ€.
The Windows Features window will open, and you’ll see Internet Information Services listed. For .NET Development, installation is not as simple as just checking the top level checkbox.
Expand Internet Information Services >> Web Management Tools. We need a way to manage our server, and in Windows 7, we use the IIS Management Console. After you expand Web Management Tools, choose IIS Management Console.
Now expand Application Development Features, and select .NET Extensibility and ASP.NET. ISAPI Extensions and ISAPI Filters will automatically be selected when you choose ASP.NET.
Looking down the list a little, we see Common HTTP Features has something selected. Expanding this node shows Default Document is chosen—it’s automatically selected when you chose ASP.NET above. If your site includes HTML pages or other static content, you should also choose Static Content. Most sites have some form of static content, so it’s a good idea to check this option.
Expand Health and Diagnostics, there are a couple options we need—HTTP Logging and Tracing. Some of the other features are nifty, but setting them up is beyond the scope of this post.
Finally, you’ll see Security also has an option chosen—Request Filtering is automatically selected when you chose ASP.NET above. For our local development machines, you need to select Windows Authentication, it’s necessary for debugging.
That’s all we need for basic ASP.NET development. Click OK, and Windows setup will install IIS and the features we selected. They’re not kidding about “several minutesâ€. Be patient. When the installer is done, it just disappears.
You can test your installation by navigating to http://localhost/, and if you see the IIS 7 splash screen, you’re good to go.
You’ll find the IIS Management Console in the same place as before, under Computer Management. If this is your first experience with the IIS 7 console, it’s going to be a little mind boggling. Everything is different. To learn more about IIS 7 in depth, check out http://www.iis.net/. In addition to the tutorials, there are loads of modules to extend the functionality of IIS.