I am trying to set my computer up as my own webserver and I'm completely confused. I'm running win xp, I have dsl through earthlink, and I'm using a linksys 4 port router. I also have .NET on my computer. My ultimate goal is to run video and music on my website off of my own computer. I thought this was all easy to do with XP and/or .NET. I'm hoping to make the webpages to run the video and music with .NET. Also, I only have 2 computers running off the router. So if someone could let me know how I can turn my computer into a webserver that would be great. Thank you.

what webserver are you trying to us? MS's IIS? (It comes with XP Pro I believe). Although I never tried the windows version, I like Apache's http server project (i used the unix version at http://www.apache.org) How do you want it to run? Have users click on links, and then their computers receive it? Or do you want streaming audio/video? Or do you want some sort of flash intro? Or are you trying to figure out how a computer that's part of a network host a web server? btw, it might not be the same for dsl, but for cable, servers are usually prohibited

I'm not even sure what webserver to use. A friend of mine is using Sambar and WinIP. I tried using those but ran into problems. Sambar said the port was already in use and WinIP confused me when I signed up for an account. I just want to use whatever is easy and will get the job done. I'd like the media to be available for streaming and for download. What I want is to have a drop down list with the files I'm making available and then a button for streaming and a button for downloading. So I'm just looking to get a server running on my computer right now. Whatever is good and fairly easy to set up. Thanks.

IIS is very easy to use, but not professional, of course. Apache is the best free server available, but you will spend some time learning how to use it. Everything is very well explained in the httpd.conf (the options file of Apache). besides, to setup basic apache you don't need to know much. the site you describe - with dropdown lists etc. - this has nothing to do with the server, it's pure html/javascript and will work on all servers. anyway, if you need php/perl or mysql support, there are hundreds of websites which will tell you how to implement support for them.

You can designate another port for the server, eg Port 8080. You need a static IP address for a web server. Apache is a good choice and there is an option which helps stop hotlinking (bandwidth theft). That is probably a bit advanced for now but worth a mention. A graphical user interface for Apache, called Comanche, is available as a free download but Apache is easy to set up without it. Hope it all works out OK! W

I downloaded the Apache file and went to install it and I'm confused again. It asks for my server name and network domain. What are those? I can't imagine them being anything I want because people pay for domain names and all that. Also, my friend uses WinIP and that is supposed to make this stuff work with a dynamic IP. He's using Sambar and WinIP as I mentioned above and he has a cable modem. The way his computers are networked at home is 3 computers, one is the server and they're all connected through a hub. He has no problems and is able to do the things I want to do. My problem seems to be getting past my router and filling in the blanks(literally). So if I can get this to work with Apache then that would be great. I've heard of it and I know it's good. Thanks for the help so far, I'm just needing to know where I'm supposed to be getting this info such as the server name and network domain.

What exactly do you want to do? Do you have a static IP? You will need a DNS if you want a address like www.sdasadsad.com, you can get free ones like www.yoursite.somethingelse.com or you can pay for ones like www.yours.com, otherwise you can only access you site by typing the ip address into a browser