Hi All
I have attempted to install Silverstripe on 2 different Win XP Pro computers. Both already have IIS installed. I used the MS Web Platform Installer and it appears to have downloaded and installed everything required, ie it goes to completion without error.
However nothing works. Clicking on the link to the CMS homepage that appears after installation completes results in a page not found error.
The Web Platform Installer installer says PHP5, MySql and Silverstripe are installed.
A folder called Silverstripe has been created in the inetpubs\rwwwoot folder. I have double clicked on the index.php file, the only file that looks like it may be a home page , but the contents are displayed instead of being rendered by the IIS Web Server. The file contents say if you can read this then PHP5 is not installed. The Web Platform Installer installer says it is installed. MySql is also installed. Any ideas why this is not working. Any pointer as to how to test if PHP is linked corrected to IIS, ie IIS is configured to react to files with .php extensions. Has anyone used the MS Web Platform Installer to install Silverstripe from scratch.

Thanks for any help on this.

Has anyone out there actually managed to install using the "super easy and friendly" Microsoft Web platform installer? There are so many postings saying the installers do not work, why have Silverstripe listed this as the best way to install. Is this a Trojan from Microsoft to prevent successful transfer over from their preferred Expression Web development system?
Nothing works after I installed. I eventually manged to get PHP working with IIS by following instructions here : http://www.wikihow.com/Install-PHP-5-for-IIS-6

I have then attempted to follow the instructions to download the latest stable release of Silverstripe and copy the contents to the localhost/silverstripe directory. After doing this and invoking localhost/silverstripe/index.php - it just comes up in the browser "The website cannot display the page" Error HTTP 500
I presume this has something to do with all rewrite but all instructions seem to apply to using Apache server.

When I try to use the MS Web PI installer it wants to install PHP again, even though it is now installed correctly. I presume allowing it will just stuff up my PHP installation - with the Web PI telling me everything has installed properly - but nothing actually working.

Any help would be appreciated.

Very frustrating for something that is suppoed to be easy to install - I presumed the real challenges would would come after the simple install.

Howdeys milis and welcome to the forums.

Ive only installed via the webPI platform a couple times so no expert on this but make sure you're running IIS7 or later. AFAIK SilverStripe doesn't official support anything less than IIS7 so < 7 could have issues. Though staying that people have got it running on IIS6 - http://www.silverstripe.org/installing-silverstripe/show/276139

As for the error page - "The website cannot display the page" Error HTTP 500, I'm sure there is a way to view the PHP error log which would have a slightly more useful error message! If you can track down the proper error it might provide a good starting point.

Thanks Wilr
A quote from the Silverstripe press release on the web site :
"WebPI works on Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Vista, and Windows Server 2008. It takes care of the architecture differences so that installation remains a simple wizard process."

This indicates it should work on IIS5, the version of IIS on WinXP. In addition there is lots about the MS Web PI solving all sorts of install problems to make the process as easy as falling off a log.

The fact it does not seem work maybe should be conveyed to the unwary who will most likely waste lots of time on something that has no chance of working. Perhaps a message on the main download page indicating that the WebPI is only for specific versions of Windows and not to attempt it unless you have that version.

I find it odd that the WEB PI installer ran to completion, without an error, on two of our WinXP computers, indicating at the end that all was installed. However, as stated before, even PHP5, indicated as being installed by the installer, did not work. When I got it working using a manual process the Web PI Installer detected it as "not being installed" and wanted to install it again as a dependency when I attempted to reinstall Silverstripe using the Wen PI installer. I presume if I proceed that PHP5 would not work after the install was finished.

If the Web PI installer does not work on Win XP I would expect an error like "Cannot install on this version of Windows" fairly early in the install process. This would save lots of time and messing around.

If there is anyone out there who has been successfull in actually getting the Web PI to install Silverstripe and its dependencies PHP5 and MySQL on Win XP Pro, and then to work, can they please let us know.

Thanks for any insights on this

After a lot of poking around I finally found why the Web PI installer was not working on Win XP - it required a very simple change to IIS after the installer had finished. The only way to see this is not by following the most obvious link on the download page, ie the big Green Image, which says clearly "Install Now with the Microsoft Web Platform installer". Don't use it - also do not go to the "Learn about this easy installation method" It is a press release about the collaboration with Microsoft.

I finally followed the less obvious "guides and installation video tutorials" on the same page.
From here follow the link "If you run Windows, we recommend that you use Microsoft's free Web Platform installer. "
This display the same Green Image link to Install now etc, but includes a very important and simple instruction for installing on Win XP pro. After following this instruction everything works as expected.

I suggest that this is made clearer on the initial download page - it really is only obvious AFTER you find it, but there is no reason to look for it. Every indicator is you should click the big green button on the download page to use the simple to install Web PI installer. Also with so many online articles explaining why the installers won't work it has the effect of putting potential users off.

The installer works as it should - what a shame you have to dig around to find something trivial that makes this wonderful installer actually work.

Also : on logging into the CMS is prompts for an email address and password - I wondered what email address it might be asking for. Nothing I provided worked. I then put in admin and the paddword I provided during installation. This works. A caption "Email address or Username" would help here.

This was a needlessly frustrating and time-consuming process - The Web PI installer works beautifully - I suggest it be made more obvious with a "If Installing on Windows READ THIS FIRST" link, on the main download page, that links to :
http://doc.silverstripe.org/doku.php?id=installation-on-windows-pi
This makes the caveat for Win XP more obvious.

Now for the real challenges.