Member Avatar for Viji

Hello everybody,

I am using a Laptop that runs the Windows XP Home Edition operating system. However Win XP Home Edition doesn't ship with a web server IIS / PWS.
Can u suggest me how to run ASP script ?

Is there any free ASP host which is trust worthy??.

How to run Asp on other web server beside IIS?

Any help or advice is appreciated.

Regards,
VG

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by delizeka

Dani AI

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A short, practical summary that fills gaps in the replies from , and and gives immediately usable options.

If the goal is accurate classic‑ASP behavior (the same engine you’ll get on a Windows/IIS host), the most reliable local route is to run a real Windows/IIS environment inside a virtual machine. Install a free VM host such as VirtualBox, create a Windows guest that includes IIS (XP Pro, Server 2003/2008 or later), enable the Web Server role/Internet Services inside the guest, then point your host browser at the guest’s IP or share a folder for the site files. This gives full IIS parity for development and avoids hacks or partial third‑party emulations. See VirtualBox downloads and docs for the VM step. (virtualbox.org)

A lighter-weight alternative for local development is Microsoft’s IIS Express, which supports classic ASP and runs on downlevel Windows (Windows XP SP3 and later). It’s suitable for testing classic pages without installing full IIS; you may need to edit the IIS Express applicationHost.config to enable debugging, parent paths, or other ASP settings. If using this route, run the server with appropriate privileges and watch the apphost config for <asp> settings. (learn.microsoft.com)

Quick test page (save as default.asp inside your site root):

<% Response.Write("ASP running: " & Now()) %>

Troubleshooting checklist: confirm .asp is mapped (ASP engine enabled), check ISAPI/CGI restrictions, open port 80 in the guest firewall, set correct NTFS permissions for the IIS user, and enable detailed errors to see real messages rather than blank 500 pages. On IIS 7+ you must explicitly install/allow the Classic ASP feature. (learn.microsoft.com)

Recommendation: for short tests try IIS Express; for production‑accurate development use a VM with full IIS. For remote hosting, choose a Windows host that explicitly lists “Classic ASP” support and a trial or money‑back policy so you can verify connectivity and database access before committing.

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Member Avatar for Dani

The hardcore Microsoft folks around here are going to think I'm crazy, but Apache (the great Linux web server) has been ported to Windows and is open source. I'm not sure if it supports ASP out of the box. If you're looking for a remote solution, check our Web Hosting marketplace: http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/forum154.html

Member Avatar for delizeka

Unfortunately, Apache does not support ASP. There are some ASP modules but they are not good enough to develop ASP applications.

In order to get IIS in Windows XP Home, you can try to use Abyss web server, which is a thirdparty web server that you can run ASP files with it. But Abyss web server does not support all the options for ASP. :sad: But if you want to create simple ASP pages, you can try it. There is a tutorial about installing Abyss web server

http://www.webthang.co.uk/Tuts/tuts_server/abyss/abyss.asp

Actually there is an unrecommended way to install IIS to Windows XP Home machine. But if want to try it, you should think twice, take your own risk to try. You can find the tutorial here:

http://www.webthang.co.uk/Tuts/tuts_server/iis_xph/pippo_xp.asp

I recommend you to upgrade windows XP Pro for development, if you will make serious ASP applications. This is the safe way.

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