Installing the Web Root

Be sure to fully prepare the target server before performing the tasks described in this section (see the Server Preparation section).

Sitecore V5 consists of a web site root and a series of databases. As of Sitecore 5.1.1, these databases may be stored in either Firebird (the default) or Microsoft SQL Server. Prior to Sitecore 5.1.1, the only database vendor supported was Microsoft SQL Server. Please read more about creating the databases in Microsoft SQL Server in the Create the Sitecore Databases section.

To install the web root, download and run the Sitecore setup.exe installation program, or download the zip version of the Sitecore web root and unpack it to the c:\Inetpub\wwwroot folder.

By default, running the installation program or unpacking the zip file will create the Sitecore Web Root in the C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\sitecore\dist folder. You may select another location if you have IIS installed in a different directory or wish to have multiple copies of Sitecore running on your machine.

NOTE: The Sitecore setup.exe installation program does nothing more than unpack a compressed version of the Sitecore webroot, which is the same as manually unzipping the Sitecore zip file.

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