Before You Begin
Apache is one of the most popular Web servers on the Web right now, and part of its charm is that it's free. It also has a lot of features that make it very extensible and useful for many different types of Web sites. It is a server that is used for personal Web pages up to enterprise level sites.
This article will discuss how to install Apache on a Windows system. Before we start you should be at least comfortable working in Windows - creating and changing directories, installing files. You should also have access to the adminstrator account on the server machine.
Download Apache
I recommend downloading the latest stable release. At the time of this writing, that was Apache 2.0. The best place to get Apache is from the Apache HTTP Server download site. Download the binary for Windows32.
Extract the Files
Once you've downloaded the binary, run it to start the self-installation. Here is a step-by-step screen shot demo of what to expect.
Customize
Assuming that there were no problems, you are ready to customize your Apache configuration. This really just amounts to editing the httpd.conf file. This file is located in the C:Program FilesApache GroupApache2conf directory. You can edit the conf file with any text editor. Being a unix-head, I usually use Vim, but you can use any text editor, like Notepad. Note: you shouldn't use Word to edit this file.
Follow the instructions in this file to edit your configuration the way you want it. More help is available on the Apache Web site.
Test Your Server
Open a Web browser on the same machine and type http://localhost/ in the address box. You should see a page similar to the one in the partial screen shot above. Specifically, it will say in big letters "Seeing this instead of the website you expected?" This is good news, as it means your server installed correctly.
Start Editing/Uploading Pages
Once your server is up and running you can start posting pages. Have fun building your Web site.
