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How to build & setup your own personal web server & webhosting.

Installing and building a Microsoft Personal Web Server (PWS) is anything but easy. While it isn't all that difficult for an experienced user, it can be an extremely frustrating experience for a relatively new user. Keep in mind that everyone’s computer is probably different and they will have different mixes of hardware and software. Microsoft’s Personal Web Server version 4.0 is best installed on the following operating systems (OS).

• Windows 95 (inclusive of all service packs and updates)
• Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE (inclusive of all service packs and updates)

Installation Steps

Open Windows Explorer and create a new directory on your C drive (or whichever drive your Windows is installed in) and name it Temp.

If you have a windows 98 CD, put it in your CD Rom but close the welcome screen. Instead, navigate through the CD and find the PWS folder which is in the Add-ons folder. Copy the files from the \Add-ons\pws folder in to the Temp directory.

If you are running Windows 95 or you don’t have the Windows 98 CD, you must download Microsoft’s Personal Web Server 4.0 for Windows 95 at the Microsoft homepage. Remember to choose not to install from the internet but instead to download PWS into your pc.

Once you have all your files, its time to install your Personal Web Server. When you click ‘setup.exe’ an installation wizard should open up.

There should be a few choices for you and they are:
• Typical
• Custom
• Repair

If you are a first time user of PWS then it is recommended that you run a typical installation.

After installation you will be asked to restart your computer so go ahead and do that.

Setting up a Personal Web Server

After installation and setup, the personal web server will run in the background every time you start up your computer.

To stop your server from running your have to manually slick on the Stop button. Do take note that any services that are offered by your web site will be stopped and inaccessible. Your PWS will stay offline until you restart it. In this case, restarting your computer will not restart the personal web server.

For web hosting, your website or home directory will be located in a folder on the hard drive in the PC where your operating system has been loaded.

This can be changed by clicking on the Advanced button and selecting a new folder or directory.

When you open up your Personal Web Server application you will see a menu of a list of things you can do. They are:

• Main – This button when clicked when you are on another area of the PWS will return you to the Main Personal Web Server window.

• Publish - The publish icon will allow you to edit your Personal Web Server pages as well as publish new ones.

• Web Site - Clicking on the Web Site icon allows you to edit your home page, view the guest book or open your drop box.

• Tour – This option will take you through each of the available features and steps of the PWS.

• Advanced – Advanced as briefly touched on above enables you to create new directories, edit existing ones, change or choose default pages and so on.

The first step to building or publishing your home page is to run the Home Page Wizard by clicking on the Publish icon in the menu. The wizard will help you setup your initial website.

While running through the wizard you should be able to customize your setup and at the end of it you should have built your very own PWS.

Extra Notes:

If you have previously installed any other version of Personal Web Server (such as version 1.0 or 2.0) you must uninstall them first before following this tutorial.
Microsoft’s Personal Web Server now supports ASP so feel free to add some extra scripts to juice up your home page.

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The easy way to build & setup a personal web server