Version-Specific Information for IIS Support in InstallShield

InstallShield 2020

Project:This information applies to the following project types:

Basic MSI
DIM
InstallScript
InstallScript MSI
Merge Module

Following is information about specific versions of IIS:

IIS is included with Windows 2000 Server and later and Windows XP and later systems. IIS 6 is available only on Windows Server 2003 systems. IIS 7 is available on Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 systems. IIS 7.5 is available on Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 systems. IIS is not installed automatically by default.
Some of the Web site and virtual directory settings in the Internet Information Services view apply to specific versions of IIS. Version-specific information is noted for these settings in the inline help panes in InstallShield. If you configure a version-specific property but a target system does not have the corresponding version of IIS, IIS ignores the version-specific property.

For example, IIS 7 and IIS 6 do not support the Application Protection property for applications or virtual directories. In the Internet Information Services view, this property is configured through a setting in the Application Settings area for an application or a virtual directory. When you select this setting in the Internet Information Services view, the help pane that is displayed in the lower-right corner indicates that the setting does not apply to IIS 6 or later. If you configure this setting and an end user installs your product on a target system that has IIS 6 or later, the Application Protection setting is ignored.

Web service extensions, application pools, and all of the associated properties are available only on machines with IIS 6 or later.

On systems with IIS 7, Web service extensions require that the IIS Metabase and IIS 6 Configuration Compatibility feature be installed. If it is not installed, the installation’s log file may show error ‑2147467259 to inform you that this feature may be required.

For information on how to determine whether a Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 system has the IIS Metabase and IIS 6 Configuration Compatibility feature installed, see Determining If a Target System Has IIS 6 or Earlier or the IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility Feature.

Windows Vista and later and Windows Server 2008 and later systems store settings for individual Web sites, applications, and virtual directories in configuration files that are located at the physical path that you specify in your installation project—in the Content Source Path (Local or UNC) setting in the Internet Information Services view. Therefore, each Web site, application, or virtual directory should have a unique physical path. Otherwise, you may notice unexpected behavior, especially in testing environments, if you have two different applications or virtual directories with the same physical path.

For example, if you have two virtual directories that have the same physical path, and directory browsing is enabled in one but not the other, the directory browsing setting for the second virtual directory that is created overrides the setting for the first virtual directory.

On systems that have Windows Server 2003, if IIS 6 is not installed, other IIS directories and sites are still created. IIS 6-specific settings are skipped.
IIS 5.1 for Windows XP Professional can service only one Web site at a time. This is a limitation of IIS 5.1.
InstallShield supports version 5 and later of IIS.

See Also