Test WordPress, PHP, MYSQL and more on a Windows machine, with MS Web Platform Installer
We have seen other posts some solutions on running php and mysql on a Windows machine. In this post I’m glad to present a solution coming from Microsoft itself. It is called WPI or Web Platform Installer. Microsoft Web Platform Installer will make getting the latest components of the Microsoft Web Platform, including Internet Information Services (IIS), SQL Server Express, .NET Framework and Visual Web Developer easy – but in this post we are interested in its ability to install and run the most popular free web applications for blogging, content management and more, by using a built-in Windows Web Application Gallery.
Free and ready to install Web Apps include Umbraco, WordPress, Acquia Drupal, SugarCRM, and more! The program is tiny, but the components you may need according to what you want to run, may be large. For example, I needed an 80 MB download in order to install WordPress. The good thing is that Microsoft WPI takes care of everything, asking only a few questions. After an hour of downloading and installing, during which time I was occupied with other things, I found myself in front of a perfectly working WordPress installation.
Microsoft Web Platform Installer is a great tool you should try. Note, that WebMatrix, something like a Microsoft PHPMyAdmin, needs a lot of development to become really useful and competitive.
If you need to use PHPMyAdmin, it’s easy: just download it and put it at the root of your web files, then open it with your browser and start working.
