Mea...
This may be a little off-topic.
I use Virtual Server and Virtual PC a lot for things like testing beta and CTP releases of SQL Server. I don't have time or the inclination to reformat physical hard drives, load an OS, or even fiddle with restoring from an enterprise backup solution like Ghost.
I blogged about configuring IIS7 for Reporting Services 2005, so this may have more relevance than I imagine.
Introduction
If you're not using virtualized machines or servers, you should check them out. They're great for testing new stuff - relatively risk-free. I am aware of two flavors of virtual engines: VMWare and Microsoft products: and .
I have no experience with VMWare.
The Microsoft products are 100% free (as in beer).
I do not know which is better. I imagine that, like all things in life, one has advantages over the other and vice versa. The Microsoft stuff does what I need, so I've not ventured to search greener pastures (ever wonder why those pastures are greener? Think about it).
Get To The Configuration Already!
When I installed Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 on my newish Vista Ultimate 64-bit machine, I saw quirky stuff. For example, I could not change the port for admin - it defaulted to 80 and gave me an error message stating my server "didn't allow" installations on other ports.
Reeeeaaallly? Huh.
I proceeded with the installation anyway and nothing worked. Well, nothing in Virtual Server. I could not get to the administrative page and, in case you've never worked with Virtual Server, you can do nothing unless you can reach the administration page. (Note, you can do stuff if you like to type. I don't like to type.)
A search ensued. I found a good article on why this was happening and how to fix it. It happens because IIS7 isn't configured (out of the box) to allow Virtual Server 2005 R2 to do its thing. To fix it, open Control Panel, Programs and Features (the snappy new Add/Remove Programs), then click "Turn Windows features on or off".
You want to navigate to Internet Information Services folder and make your Windows Features look like this:
(A Thousand Words)
The image above may be the first on the web (it was the only one I could find) of how to configure IIS7 on Vista Ultimate 64-bit for both SSRS 2005 and Virtual Server 2005 R2.
Note you still get the Configure Components screen displayed above - the one with port textbox disabled and set to 80 - at least in Vista Ultimate. But you also get these screens:
:{> Andy