Making Windows XP Professional web developer friendly

Introduction

Web development on Windows XP Professional is a drag, or it was until I discovered two "fixes".

First, Microsoft in their kind way (being ironic Bill), implemented the simple file sharing on XP. I wasted a lot of time on this "fix", trying to change permissions on a database (giving the IUSER_xxx user write permission). Enough said.

To get normal access to NTFS permissions, do the following:

In Windows Explorer, open Tools -> Folder options , and un-check Use simple file sharing (see image below)

Another thing that's been nagging me is the inability to host multi-sites on XP. Enter the scene, the ISAPI - MultiSite Filter :-)

MultiSite Filter

The filter is a bit beta, but it works fine (at least for me). You'll find it at http://www.hairy-spider.com/multisite.aspx. To get it up and running do the following:

1. Edit your HOSTS file (in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc, where C is the drive you installed XP on)

   # Example
   127.0.0.1       localhost anotherweb thirdweb

2. Copy the multi.ini (from the multisite download) to your Windows catalog (C:\Windows) and edit it

   ;Example
   [websites]
   anotherweb=C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\anotherweb 
   thirdweb=C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\thirdweb

3. Finally you have to load the ISAPI filter into IIS at the root level or even the websites level (I run it at website level). If you need help doing this, take a look at HOWTO: Install an ISAPI Filter Dynamic-Link Library

BTW: If you're not getting the pages, flush the browser's cache and restart IIS

You're now running a multi-site web on XP Professional, with normal access to NTFS permissions :-)