quick IIS question in WinXP

[Zugzwang152]

Just installed IIS. I'm a newbie, so I wanted to make sure there was nothing important in the default files that windows puts in your 'wwwroot' folder. What I'd like to do is clear everything out and start from scratch. Will this harm anything in the future, assuming I want to eventually host my webpage from my home computer?

 

[stebesplace]

Yes. Especially if you have installed front page extensions in. Let windows keep in its things. Those are also security files. Don't touch them. If you have, re install it all back in.

-Steve

 

[Nothinman]

Usually the first step in securing IIS is to move the wwwroot directory to a new, empty one. The default just contains examples, nothing critical. FP extensions maybe an exception, but I never use those so I wouldn't know.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Usually the first step in securing IIS is to move the wwwroot directory to a new, empty one. The default just contains examples, nothing critical. FP extensions maybe an exception, but I never use those so I wouldn't know.

the wwwroot can be moved anywhere, and it will still function properly? Also, are you sure about clearing the Inetpub folder, there seems to be conflicting opinion....

 

[Nothinman]

We always move the wwwroot folder and delete the default virtual folders when installing IIS because most exploits rely on things being setup with the defaults. Of course we try to avoid IIS whenever possible also since it's so horrid.

Anway, if it does cause problems you can reinstall IIS and get them back, right? Or even better, backup the wwwroot before you delete it.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
We always move the wwwroot folder and delete the default virtual folders when installing IIS because most exploits rely on things being setup with the defaults. Of course we try to avoid IIS whenever possible also since it's so horrid.

Anway, if it does cause problems you can reinstall IIS and get them back, right? Or even better, backup the wwwroot before you delete it.

is there a better way to host your webpage on a local machine? I installed IIS because it was the most convinient for me..

 

[bot2600]

most definantly move the wwwroot folder and delete everything in it. If you NEED FPSE then just reconfigure them after the move.

Bot

 

[Nothinman]

I always use Apache when given a choice. We use a lot of Netscape's web server at work, mostly as a hold over from earlier installations. I would pretty much use anything but IIS because IIS is a pain to configure properly (if you havn't patched yourself yet you probably have CodeRed already) and has probably the worst security track record of any piece of software.