how to make coldfusion run with IIS on windows xp?

i m thinking of learning coldfusion programming to do some web design stuff.i have no idea about this macromedia technology which allows database driven sites like asp and php.i have a machine with windows xp pro as the os and iis as the server.but i was wondering what to do in order to make coldfusion pages run on my machine using this iis (and ms access as the database) if possible.what do i need to download and from where.i would appreciate a good and easy introduction to starting coldfusion for dummies like me.thanks......

The easiest thing to do is actually install ColdFusion MX 7 in "standalone" mode, which means that the server uses HTTP port 8500 and runs using a built-in web server. With this setup you don't have to configure anything. However, if you really want to install it and connect it to IIS, this is also very easy. The installer walks you through all of it. Just download the developer edition which has all the features of CF Enterprise but only allows 2 IP addresses to connect. You can get it here . I've also helped set up a resources list in this thread.

Detailed installation instructions can be found in the documentation.

Hope that helps, and I hope you find CF as cool and easy to learn as the hundreds of thousands of others who've jumped in!

dear kiteless,

thanks a lot for the info.looks very interesting and promising.i will definitely give it a try whenever time permits.thanks again....

If you dont want to invest the money in CF Server to just check out what CFML can do try installing Blue Dragon.

http://www.newatlanta.com/products/bluedragon/bluedragon_basics.cfm

The Developer version of CFMX 7 is free and has all the features of CFMX 7 Enterprise except it is limited to 2 IP addresses. It works perfectly for testing and evaluation. Be aware that there are still some esoteric compatibility issues between BlueDragon and CFMX, and that CFMX 7 introduced numerous new tags and functions that BlueDragon does not support yet.