Hi, im trying to install the EE core on my local machine to gain better understanding before i purchase the pro and im having installation problems

my setup is :

win xp pro / iis 5.1
PHP 4.4
MySQL 5.0

the error i get is

Error: unable to write the config file.
with this url : http://localhost/mysitename/install.php?page=5

now ive searched the forums first otherwise i wouldnt post and ive tried the following

entire top level folder contents unchecked read only ( you cant CHMOD on a win server )

in IIS ive tried :
Enable script AND executables ( sometimes a problem on php apps )
Directory Security : defined the admin user details

and still no joy
all my other custom PHP apps work fine AND as do other similar opensource products.

so im kind of hoping someone might suggest something to try that i might have missed ?

help much appreciated

I’ve only the vaguest notion on how to do this on a Windows box.

The IUSER_Whatever account needs to have the rights set to allow the equivalent to the Unix 666 setting.

Sorry I can’t be more specific. It’s the ability to WRITE you need.

hey toocan
I am also running into the same problem without any solution. and also have other php app running properly on the machine.
A friend of mine posted the problem two days ago, but no solution yet.
Please, if you figure out how to fix it post again. If I do, for I’ll let you know too.

I hope we can make this work :o)

Just had the same problem and here’s what worked for me:

1. Go into IIS and confirm your site anonymous user: IUSR_<hostname>
2. Go to your ExpressionEngine folder and view the security settings for:
  - path.php
  - system folder (you may have named ‘system’ something else)
  - system\config.php
  - system\config_bak.php
3. Give the IUSR_<hostname> write access to these files
4. Complete the installation
5. Remove the user permissions to be safe

Hope that helps!

You want to keep the write permission to the config.php file, since you will make changes to it from time to time.

Just had the same problem and here’s what worked for me:

1. Go into IIS and confirm your site anonymous user: IUSR_<hostname>
>> yep tried that
2. Go to your ExpressionEngine folder and view the security settings for:
  - path.php
  - system folder (you may have named ‘system’ something else)
  - system\config.php
  - system\config_bak.php
>> not sure what you mean or where these security settings are ? do you mena is IIS or in windows explorer i.e. right click et.

3. Give the IUSR_<hostname> write access to these files
4. Complete the installation
5. Remove the user permissions to be safe

Hope that helps!

in the end i just setup some linux space on a remote pc but would be nice if i could get it to work in a win enviroment

We Added the following configurations:
  - windowx XP with IIS running and tested successfully.
  - PHP 5.0 installed and tested with IIS and .php files could be successfully viewed in IE and Firefox.
  - Mysql 4.2 downloaded and works fine.
  - A new database called “ee” was created in mysql and the ExpressionEngine could successfully add tables to the database when installing using IE.
  - We followed your instructions to change the priviledges in IIS, and it doesn’t work out. 
The same error message displays: “unable to write the config file”

At work I dont recall any issues setting this up on a Win2k box running IIS, this is strange. I’m looking to see if I have done anything different but right now it sounds like NTFS permissions are not right. If I find anything I will post back. Sorry not much help.

Geekboy - 27 March 2006 02:52 PM

At work I dont recall any issues setting this up on a Win2k box running IIS, this is strange. I’m looking to see if I have done anything different but right now it sounds like NTFS permissions are not right. If I find anything I will post back. Sorry not much help.

i think these problems are with windows xp, but any suggestions appreciated

found a fix for this problem for anyone who has it in future :

in the folder containing the files, select Tools -> Folder Options -> View, and uncheck the option Use simple file sharing

I had this problem on Win XP with IIS and the following steps posted above did the trick:

1. Go into IIS and confirm your site anonymous user: IUSR_<hostname>
2. Go to your ExpressionEngine folder and view the security settings for:
- path.php
- system folder (you may have named ‘system’ something else)
- system\config.php
- system\config_bak.php
3. Give the IUSR_<hostname> write access to these files

The question about these steps above:

2. Go to your ExpressionEngine folder and view the security settings for:
- path.php
- system folder (you may have named ‘system’ something else)
- system\config.php
- system\config_bak.php
>> not sure what you mean or where these security settings are ? do you mena is IIS or in windows explorer i.e. right click et.

The security settings are in Windows Explorer (right-click > Properties > Security).

found a fix for this problem for anyone who has it in future :

in the folder containing the files, select Tools -> Folder Options -> View, and uncheck the option Use simple file sharing

This didn’t make any difference for me (actually they were unchecked anyway) until the folder security settings were changed as per the instructions above.

Hope this helps

thanks toocan

>in the folder containing the files, select Tools -> Folder Options -> View, and uncheck the option Use simple file sharing

this did the trick for me.

I have ran into a similar error when installing, wasnt using IIS or have files shared, turned out the problem was easily fixed by un-hiding the system folder, running the install and then hiding the system folder once complete.

May be a fix or simple oversight on my behalf, using…

Vista
Apache 2.2
PHP 5.2.6
MySQL

All working fine now! :¬)

sbethune - 24 March 2006 04:24 PM

Just had the same problem and here’s what worked for me:

1. Go into IIS and confirm your site anonymous user: IUSR_<hostname>
2. Go to your ExpressionEngine folder and view the security settings for:
  - path.php
  - system folder (you may have named ‘system’ something else)
  - system\config.php
  - system\config_bak.php
3. Give the IUSR_<hostname> write access to these files
4. Complete the installation

Hope that helps!

Just to clarify a few things.  For those that are having similar problems with permissions (unable to write to config.php file) on Windows Server 2008 & IIS7, just follow the first 3 steps above (to set the directory and file permissions for each of the files and folders and be sure to give the user “IUSR_<hostname>” read, write, and read & execute permissions to each of those files and folders above). 

If you are using Windows Server 2008 & IIS7, then next you must go into ->START -> Administrative Tools -> Active Directory Users and Computers -> Click on “users” then right click on the user IUSR_<hostname>, then “reset the password” of the IUSR_<hostname>” account to something that you know (you need to write this password down or remember it). 

Next, go into IIS 7 and click on the Server name at the root (just under Start Page) and you’ll see <hostname> Home root (just under Start Page).  Click on the “Authentication” icon.  You’ll see “Anonymous Authentication”, “ASP.NET Impersonation” and “Forms Authentication” as the three users.  Click on “Anonymous Authentication” (make sure it’s enabled) and then on the right hand side of the screen click the “Edit” link. 

It should say “Anonymous user identity:” and it should have two choices “Specific user:” and “Application pool identity”.  If you notice the Specific user may be set as “IUSR”, this is an incorrect setting, and you need to change this to “IUSR_<hostname>”. 

Click on the “set” button to change it, and enter the username “IUSR_<hostname>” and then enter the password that you assigned to that account (hopefully you wrote it down).  Confirm the password again, then click “OK”.

Now IIS7 is setup correctly.  Now go into IIS and right click on the host server, and click “stop” (shut the IIS server down, and then restart it).  Once IIS comes back up, it should work fine.

Now your IIS 7 installation can properly authenticate, and the file permissions that you set earlier for the folders and files (in steps 1 thru 3) should actually work with IIS. 

Now go back and try to re-run the “install.php” file, and complete the Expression Engine installation.  The installation script should now work correctly, and ExpressionEngine should install.

If you have any additional questions, or problems… let me know.

          Thanks,

          Mark

P.S. I’m just posting this for archival purposes, in case anyone else stumbles across this thread with the same problem.