Windows Download Instructions

Last updated March 10, 2012. Created by chicagomom on August 24, 2009.
Edited by screenack, dbdot, annahlauren, uNeedStuff. Log in to edit this page.

Prerequisites

• Unzip program for processing .tar.gz files. .tar.gz is a format Windows doesn't understand by default. This tutorial assumes you've downloaded and installed the freely available utility 7-Zip to allow you to extract .tar.gz files. A number of other file compression utilities are also available.

Download Drupal

1. At the project download page, find the version you want to download. In this case, select the first Drupal 7 version under the section 'Official Releases.' Click on 'Download.' Save the file (don't open it with another program.)

2. Uncompress the file. Right-click on the .tar.gz file and select 7-Zip >> Extract here. Right-click on the .tar file and repeat. You will now see the final Drupal folder. Drag and drop the folder where you need it to be.

   Note: If you extract the files into a folder other than your web site's folder, copy the contents of the Drupal folder into the appropriate web folder, rather than cutting/pasting them. (This will ensure the files will inherit the appropriate permissions for the web server.)

   Note:If you are using Apache instead of IIS skip the next two steps.

3. Create the files folder. In the sites/default folder, create a folder called files and grant modify permissions for it to IIS_WPG (IIS6) or IIS_IUSRS (IIS7).
4. IIS7: Create/modify web.config file. Drupal distributions come with .htaccess files for *nix use; IIS7 users should convert this file to a web.config file for their site. If you have used the IIS Manager to create a new site, a basic web.config file will exist in your site's root directory. Edit the file to look like this example:
   
   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
    <system.webServer>
  <!-- Don't show directory listings for URLs which map to a directory. -->
    <directoryBrowse enabled="false" />

    <!--
       Caching configuration was not delegated by default. Some hosters may not delegate the caching
       configuration to site owners by default and that may cause errors when users install. Uncomment
       this if you want to and are allowed to enable caching
     -->
    <!--
    <caching>
      <profiles>
        <add extension=".php" policy="DisableCache" kernelCachePolicy="DisableCache" />
        <add extension=".html" policy="CacheForTimePeriod" kernelCachePolicy="CacheForTimePeriod" duration="14:00:00" />
      </profiles>
    </caching>
     -->

    <rewrite>
      <rules>
        <!-- rule name="postinst-redirect" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url=".*" />
          <action type="Rewrite" url="postinst.php"/>
        </rule -->

        <rule name="Protect files and directories from prying eyes" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="\.(engine|inc|info|install|module|profile|test|po|sh|.*sql|postinst.1|theme|tpl(\.php)?|xtmpl|svn-base)$|^(code-style\.pl|Entries.*|Repository|Root|Tag|Template|all-wcprops|entries|format)$" />
          <action type="CustomResponse" statusCode="403" subStatusCode="0" statusReason="Forbidden" statusDescription="Access is forbidden." />
        </rule>
        <rule name="Force simple error message for requests for non-existent favicon.ico" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="favicon\.ico" />
          <action type="CustomResponse" statusCode="404" subStatusCode="1" statusReason="File Not Found" statusDescription="The requested file favicon.ico was not found" />
        </rule>
                <!-- To redirect all users to access the site WITH the 'www.' prefix,
                http://example.com/... will be redirected to http://www.example.com/...)
                adapt and uncomment the following:   -->
                <!--
        <rule name="Redirect to add www" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="^(.*)$" ignoreCase="false" />
          <conditions>
            <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^example\.com$" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="Redirect" redirectType="Permanent" url="http://www.example.com/{R:1}" />
        </rule>
                -->
                <!-- To redirect all users to access the site WITHOUT the 'www.' prefix,
                http://www.example.com/... will be redirected to http://example.com/...)
                adapt and uncomment the following:   -->
                <!--
        <rule name="Redirect to remove www" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="^(.*)$" ignoreCase="false" />
          <conditions>
            <add input="{HTTP_HOST}" pattern="^www\.example\.com$" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="Redirect" redirectType="Permanent" url="http://example.com/{R:1}" />
        </rule>
                -->
        <!-- Rewrite URLs of the form 'x' to the form 'index.php?q=x'. -->
        <rule name="Short URLS" stopProcessing="true">
          <match url="^(.*)$" ignoreCase="false" />
          <conditions>
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsFile" ignoreCase="false" negate="true" />
            <add input="{REQUEST_FILENAME}" matchType="IsDirectory" ignoreCase="false" negate="true" />
            <add input="{URL}" pattern="^/favicon.ico$" ignoreCase="false" negate="true" />
          </conditions>
          <action type="Rewrite" url="index.php?q={R:1}" appendQueryString="true" />
        </rule>
      </rules>
    </rewrite>

    <!-- httpErrors>
      <remove statusCode="404" subStatusCode="-1" />
      <error statusCode="404" prefixLanguageFilePath="" path="/index.php" responseMode="ExecuteURL" />
    </httpErrors -->

    <defaultDocument>
     <!-- Set the default document -->
      <files>
        <remove value="index.php" />
        <add value="index.php" />
      </files>
    </defaultDocument>
  </system.webServer>
</configuration>