Windows: Install vFabric Web Server from a ZIP File

You install vFabric Web Server on Windows computers using a self-extracting ZIP file (*.zip.exe) that you download from the VMware Web site.

Prerequisites

Verify that your system meets the supported configurations and installation requirements. See Supported Configurations and System Requirements.
As of version 5.2 of vFabric Web Server, you must use Windows PowerShell 2.0 to execute the vFabric Web Server scripts on Windows computers. Most recent Windows versions, such as Windows 7, have PowerShell installed by default, but some older versions of Windows do not. To check whether your version of Windows has PowerShell installed, go to Start > All Programs > Accessories and check for Windows PowerShell in the list.
If Windows PowerShell 2.0 is not installed on your Windows computer, download and install it from the Windows Management Framework (Windows PowerShell 2.0, WinRM 2.0, and BITS 4.0) Web page on the Microsoft Support.
If necessary, enable Windows PowerShell for script processing; by default, script processing is disabled.
1. Start PowerShell from the Start Menu as an Administrator by opening Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows PowerShell, then right-clicking on Windows PowerShell and selecting Run as Administrator. A PowerShell window starts.
2. Check the current PowerShell setting by executing the following command:
```
PS prompt> Get-ExecutionPolicy
```
  If the command returns Restricted, it means that PowerShell is not yet enabled. Enable it to allow local script processing at a minimum by executing the following command:
```
PS prompt> Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
```
  You can choose a different execution policy for your organization if you want, as well as enable PowerShell using Group and User policies. Typically, only the Administrator will be using the vFabric Web Server scripts, so the RemoteSigned execution policy should be adequate in most cases.

Procedure

From the Windows computer on which you want to install vFabric Web Server, log in as the Administrator user.
Start PowerShell from the Start Menu as an Administrator by opening Start > All Programs > Accessories > Windows PowerShell, then right-clicking on Windows PowerShell and selecting Run as Administrator. A PowerShell window starts.
Create the directory into which you will install vFabric Web Server. Do not create a directory name that contains spaces. For example:
```
PS prompt> mkdir c:\opt\vmware
```
Download the appropriate vFabric Web Server self-extracting ZIP from the VMware Download Web site and place it in the directory you created.
Be sure to choose the correct architecture (32- or 64-bit). For example, the file to install vFabric Web Server on a 64-bit Windows platform is vfabric-web-server-version-x64-windows.zip.exe.
Execute the downloaded *.zip.exe file to self-extract the files into the directory you created. You can do this, for example, by opening Window Explorer, navigating to the directory, and double-clicking on the *.zip.exe file.
When the extraction completes, the vFabric Web Server files are located in the vfabric-web-server subdirectory.
From your command window, change to the main vFabric Web Server directory:
```
PS prompt> cd c:\opt\vmware\vfabric-web-server
```
Run the fixrootpath.ps1 PowerShell script to correct the root paths:
```
PS prompt> .\fixrootpath.ps1
```
Create a symbolic link from the existing httpd-2.2.version directory to one called httpd-2.2, where version refers to the minor version and architecture of vFabric Web Server.
PowerShell does not include mklink intrinsically, so you must use the command cmd /c mklink. For example, to use the 64-bit edition of vFabric Web Server, run the following command:
```
PS prompt> cmd /c mklink /d httpd-2.2 httpd-2.2.23.0-64
```

What to do next

If you installed Web Server standalone, activate a local Web Server license as described in Activate a vFabric Web Server Local License.
If you installed Web Server as part of vFabric Suite, you should have already activated licensing as described in the procedures for installing vFabric License Server and activating vFabric Suite licenses in Getting Started with vFabric Suite. (You may also want to read the other vFabric licensing sections in that guide, to understand how licensing works with vFabric Suite.)
Read Description of the vFabric Web Server Installation for a brief tour of what was installed.
Create and start using a vFabric Web Server as described in Creating and Using vFabric Web Server Instances.