Microsoft Rolls Out Web Platform Installer 1.0 -- Visual Studio Magazine

Microsoft Rolls Out Web Platform Installer 1.0

By Herb Torrens
01/21/2009

Microsoft announced today the release of Web Platform Installer (Web PI) 1.0, a free downloadable tool designed to help install the Microsoft Web Platform or its components.

The whole platform can be installed to support Web application development. Alternatively, users can opt for specific Microsoft products, such as IIS, Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, SQL Server 2008 Express Edition, .NET Framework and others, according to Microsoft's announcement.

This latest version of Web PI has been in beta since late November and has been inching its way from Release Candidate stage to its current 1.0 Release-to-Web status. Earlier issues, such as lack of support for Windows XP and Windows 2003, have been overcome. It also allows the installation of ASP.NET MVC and Visual Studio Tools.

Some users of the earlier beta requested an "uninstaller" for Web PI, according to a Microsoft forum, although it's unclear if Version 1.0 addresses that complaint.

Web PI runs on Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP operating systems, as well as Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. It requires the .NET 2.0 Framework to install and supports both x86 and 64-bit architectures.

Web PI can be downloaded here, and Microsoft provides video instructions to ease matters.

In other Web dev news, Microsoft has noted a problem with some Web development apps closing slowly in Visual Studio and Visual Web Developer Express, especially when those projects are located on remote servers. The problem, with a workaround, is described here.

For those looking for IIS7 support, Microsoft recently released a new online technical manual.

About the Author

Herb Torrens is an award-winning freelance writer based in Southern California. He managed the MCSP program for a leading computer telephony integrator for more than five years and has worked with numerous solution providers including HP/Compaq, Nortel, and Microsoft in all forms of media.

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