Most of the Moodle installation guides available on the internet describe how to install Moodle on a combination of Microsoft SQL Server or MySQL, Apache or IIS and Windows or Linux. There does not seem to be a comprehensive guide with complete and detailed setup instructions specifically for the Microsoft platform. This guide fills that gap and describes how to install Moodle on Windows 2003 Server with IIS6, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and PHP 5.2.6.
Before you can install Moodle on Windows there are a few things that you have to do first. These include setting up and testing PHP, installing FastCGI, configuring IIS for PHP and creating a Moodle database. This guide contains all the information that you need to get Moodle running smoothly on Windows.
Part 1 - Setup PHP on the web server
Part 2 - Install FastCGI on the web server
Part 3 - Configure the PHP script mapping in IIS
Part 4 - Create a Moodle application in IIS
Part 5 - Configure PHP to work with Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Part 6 - Create the Moodle database and database login
Part 7 - Test the PHP configuration
Part 9 - Setup a Moodle Cron Job
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There are Windows setup packages available for both Moodle and PHP, so why install Moodle the manual way using the generic package? Because it gives you complete control of the setup process. Installing PHP and Moodle manually will make you more familiar with the installation procedure and this will make you knowledgeable and able to troubleshoot setup problems with more confidence. You will then be in a better position to support your Moodle users with this knowledge.
Additionally, while the XAMPP (cross platform Apache, MySQL, PHP) install packages that are available from the Moodle downloads page may be easy to install for first time users, they are not meant for production purposes. They are great for when you first start investigating Moodle, but don't use them for your production site.
The "catch"? You use this installation guide at your own risk... There may still be errors in this guide. If you do find any errors, please send me details and I will make the appropriate changes or updates.
Please note that the Moodle company (Moodle Pty Ltd) or the Moodle developers were not involved in creating this site and they have not reviewed, signed-off or endorsed any of the content. For that reason they are not in any way responsible for the content on this site and they can't be held responsible for any errors.
Please also note that I do not provide Moodle consulting or support services. The only "support" I offer is what you read on this site and the occasional message I might post on the Moodle Forums. I'm certainly not an expert in Moodle, so treat anything I say with caution!
If you need professional help installing or running Moodle then it's probably best to contact a Moodle Partner or ask for help in the Moodle forums. I initially wrote this installation guide for internal purposes at my company, but I have published it here as I feel that there is a gap in the Moodle documentation.
This installation guide makes the following assumptions: