Today I was at the University and wanted to install IIS and ASP.NET to work on a small project. The only problem is that I didn’t have the Windows XP CD with me. Google returned answers that involved downloading the SP2 installer and extracting the files from it. So, I decided to hack around and see what I could come up with without having to download the ~250Mb SP2 installer. Here’s what I found. Open up Add Remove Programs and click on the Windows Components button.

In here, check off the IIS service and click Next. It will then prompt you for the Windows CD.

I do not know of anyway to just install IIS without the CD or any XP resources. That being said, If this is just for practice, take a look at Cassini Personal Web Server. You can find out more information about it on Wikipedia.

When it does, click OK (even though we haven’t put one in). In the next window browse to C:WindowsI386 and click OK.

It should then start installing. During the installation it may prompt for the CD again. Rinse and repeat the exact same process by locating the I386 folder and it should install just fine. 116 Responses to “How to install IIS on Windows XP without CD” • umm it didn’t work for me.

Maybe because i’m using sp3 or i’m doing something wrong. One thing that is confusing is you say to check off the IIS servers and click next. If you leave the IIS unchecked surprisingly enough it doesn’t install. If you check IIS and type in C: Windows I386 and push ok it goes nowhere so the only other option is cancel. It says installation canceled so you go to rinse and repeat to only find your self doing the same thing over and over. Shaft said this on • Hmm, that’s weird. It very well could be the fact that it’s SP3.

I’m surprised you’re using SP3 too because there are only RCs available at the moment. Perhaps you can try SP2 and prove that it wasn’t just luck that I was getting out of this! 🙂 Cheers, ParadoxPerfect paradoxperfect said this on • yea RCs FTW i had vista beta 2 and i didn’t have any problems with it so i don’t mind using early releases from Microsoft. And nah i’m not going back to sp2 all my task tray things show up now! Although i think it might have been bootvis causing that problem under sp2. Anyway i don’t need IIS server anymore and i’m upgrading soon so it’s time to dl vista 😛 Shaft said this on • Wow.

Worked a treat fro me thx for the tip man. Amit said this on • Glad to hear 🙂 paradoxperfect said this on • Would this work for Vista? I got Vista Home Edition Pre-installed with my notebook. Img2cad 7 2 serial numbers.

Avani said this on • I’m not really sure since I’m not using Vista. 🙂 paradoxperfect said this on • Hurray guys!!!! I tried it on vista, and it didn’t even ask for a CD, it just installed. Thanks for this wonderful idea.

Avani said this on • but i still dont have support for ASP. I read it has to be explicitly enabled. But i cant find that option any where. Does any body knows it? Avani said this on • The answer: you won’t HAVE an i386 folder unless your copy of windows was an OEM install like at a school lab, or a machine that came with Windows pre-loaded. If you installed your own copy of XP, i386 never got put on your computer. It’s an install folder.

Windows just ran what it needed for the install straight off the disk. Bummer here I am on the road for 4 days, thinking I’d start to play with PHP and now I gotta wait till I get home. Joe said this on • HI I DONT HAVE 1386 AND I DONT HAVE THE WIN XP CD HOW CAN I INSTALL???? SHIVA said this on • you got me a idea when no ORIGINAL CD is available thx a lot.

R.Neira said this on • [] need your Windows XP CD for this. If you don’t have it, you can refer to the ezinearticles or paradoxperfect for some help. If you’re still having problems, just let me know. I’ll be glad to help. [] said this on • This is great. Saved me from lots of hassel!! 🙂 Pooo said this on • Thanks so muchYou saved my day.

Said this on • Hi, am using windows xp sp2, i tried to install iis, i gave the exact path by searching the location of i386 folder in my system and clicked ok.but its not working mathu said this on • am not able to install iis. Mathu said this on • Hi mathu, I’ll be able to help you out if you could give me the exact steps that you’re trying to follow and what isn’t working for it. Thanks 🙂 paradoxperfect said this on • hi, i installed microsoft visual studio.net 2003 and after i installed iis in my pc, but when i started to open asp.net web application in microsoft visual studio.net 2003 it displays a msg that “the web server reported the following error when attempting to create or open the web project located at the following URL:’connection with the server could not be established’.” so now am not able to work with asp.net.this is my prob mathu said this on • Hi mathu, Are you sure you’re accessing the correct address? The computer you’re trying to connect to, is its name “admin”. If it’s a local instance of IIS you should use “localhost” for that project. Paradoxperfect said this on • yes.