Win iis
This guide assumes you already have IIS Installed with PHP (including PHP_Curl) installed and configured. If not, please visit IIS Install first. Some of these steps are not required, but added to help ensure an error free install.
Windows 7 (Professional OR Ultimate) / Windows Server 2008 R2º
Microsoft IIS 7.5 or Higher
PHP 5.2
Microsoft Web Platform (Renamed recently to "WebMatrix")
Python 2.7 (for SickBeard, CouchPotato, etc.) {For now, find SB, CP, etc. guides for Python related help}
ºAlthough Windows XP Pro and Vista (Pro/Ultimate) have the ability to install IIS, they are NOT supported by this guide.
If you are installing IIS solely for running MediaFrontPage and the other HTPC Applications, please be advised you'll have a much easier experience running Uniform Server or some other Apache based server (You can view our Uniform Server guide here).
If you have other needs for IIS you need to determine if you want your install of MediaFrontPage available publicly on the internet or solely from your internal network. If you want things publicly available you'll need to take care of some port forwarding on your Router which will not be covered here. Thankfully MediaFrontPage now offers a form of security via a login.
If you already have or are planning on additional sites being hosted by IIS you'll want to create a sub-directory (or Virtual Directory) to house the required files so that they aren't in your Web Root. (This guide will explain both methods).
By default when you install IIS your "Web Root" will be located on "%SystemDrive%\Inetpub\wwwroot" which in most cases translates to "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot". Pending on how you obtain MediaFrontPage (via Git or download in *.zip format from Github) the simplest way to run MediaFrontPage is to place the files directly into the wwwroot folder which will allow you to view it from the following URL's (on the Windows/IIS machine):
http://localhost
http://SYSTEMNAME (Example: http://xbmc)
http://IPADDRESS (Example: http://192.168.1.2)
Other systems on your internal network can use all the above address EXCEPT localhost to view MediaFrontPage. For those that have other sites/applications running on IIS you can simply create a folder inside wwwroot (Example: /mediafrontpage) that would change the three above addresses to:
http://localhost/mediafrontpage
http://SYSTEMNAME/mediafrontpage (Example: http://xbmc/mediafrontpage)
http://IPADDRESS/mediafrontpage (Example: http://192.168.1.2/mediafrontpage)
IIS allows you to essentially use any directory to house web files that can be accessed by using Virtual Directories. This can be done for file organization or more importantly, if you aren't that familiar with Git and it downloaded MediaFrontPage's files into your User folder, you can just use that folder in IIS and not have to remember to copy the files over after every update you do. To create your virtual directory, right click on "Default Web Site" and click "Add Virtual Directory". In the window that opens, make sure the path is / and remember, whatever name you put into the Alias box will act like a directory (Example: 'Alias = mediafrontpage' will result in the same URL's listed for the directory section above). When you browse for the Physical Path, as long as you don't select a folder that is somehow protected (inside your private User folder) you should be able to skip the "Connect as..." button.
Newer versions include built in authentication that allow you to configure a standard Username/Password via the config.php and changing $AUTH_ON from false; to true;.
$AUTH_ON = false;
$AUTH_USERNAME = '';
$AUTH_PASS = '';
IIS offers a few forms of security that you can mix and match based on your needs. Similar to the .htaccess that Apache uses, IIS has a file called web.config. However, these files are very different and you can't just copy the contents from one to the other or just rename them.
The recommended option is to force "Windows Authentication" so that even when viewed from outside your network you can use the same Username/Password that logs you into Windows: (This example turns on Windows Authentication while turning off Anonymous Authentication)
<location path="mediafrontpage">
<system.webServer>
<security>
<authentication>
<anonymousAuthentication enabled="false" />
<windowsAuthentication enabled="true" />
</authentication>
</security>
</system.webServer>
</location>
For "Windows Authentication" you need to first add the role as it's not available by default
- Close IIS if open
- Start -> Administrative Tools -> Server Manager
- In Server Manager expand Roles and click Web Server (IIS)
- In Web Server (IIS) scroll to Role Services and click Add Role Services
- On the Select Role Services page of the Wizard, select Windows Authentication and click Next
- On Confirm Installation Selections click Install
- Close the Results page
- Close IIS if open
- Start -> Control Panel -> Programs and Features -> Turn Windows Features on or off
- Expand Internet Information Services -> World Wide Web Services -> Security
- Select Windows Authentication and click OK
- Open IIS and in the Connections pane, expand the Server name, expand Sites
- Select (click) either the Site or Directory where MediaFrontPage is located and go to Security in the Home pane
- Double click Authentication -> Windows Authentication -> Click Enable in the Actions pane
Once you have IIS setup and the files for MediaFrontPage you need to rename default-config.php to config.php and open it in a program like Notepad (I recommend Notepad++ since it has Syntax Highlighting).
The config file is heavily commented to help users figure out each section as they progress through and due to the frequency of updates to the source we wont go over the actual file since it changes a lot. One thing of note, for now, it's safer to IGNORE all values in regards to "Reverse Proxies" as they wont be covered in this guide and it's not an officially support 'feature' yet as it's still be worked on and developed. Once you have finished editing your config file save it and again verify that it is named config.php in the root of MediaFrontPage's directory. Now open Firefox or Google Chrome and go to http://localhost (add the sub directory if not in root). You should be met with the "First Run" screen that will check your setup (PHP, LibXML, cURL, your config and layout files, etc.) and if there are any errors it will let you know so you can fix it, if all goes well, click "Continue" and you'll be greeted with a page similar to the screenshot shown on this Wiki's main page.