typed in localhost and nothing happens

hi,
i just want to start programming in ASP. i dont understand why its so hard to get help in this. i am using internet explorer 6.0.2800.1106, windows 2000 professional as the OS and using IIS from the windows 2000 CD(dont know which version of IIS that is). i type in localhost and nothing happens in internet explorer. someone asks me which version of IIS i am using and tells me to type in:
<%=request.ServerVariables("Server_Software")%>
and i put it into a note pad and called it IISVer.asp. then i tried calling it within internet explorer as:
http://localhost/IISVer.asp
and nothing happens. i just want to start programming in ASP. how do i go about doing this? it is really confusing

thank you

Did you setup IIS properly? Make sure it is set to the IP of your machine or "any available IP", and make sure you have permissions set on the directory ( in IIS ) where you have your "IISVer.asp" set to let scripts run.

can you tell me how to do this please? i need someone to be totally explicit of what they are talking about. even telling me which things to click on lol =)

Setting up IIS should be straightforward, and unless you want to change any of the default settings then I would assume that you have installed IIS without any changes.

Where have you saved the file IISVer.asp? All asp files should be stored in the C:\Inetpub\wwwroot directory. To test that your IIS is installed and working correctly enter http://localhost/localstart.asp in your browser address bar and click GO. This should load the Welcome to IIS page. If it doesn't then there has been a problem with your IIS installation - suggest reinstalling.

how do i uninstall IIS? when i uninstalled IIS on my computer i removed the checkmark from IIS and after that my computer didnt start up again. i had to reformat and lost everything on my computer.

You install/uninstall IIS from Control Panel - Add Remove Programs - Add Remove Windows components.

If that's where you unchecked IIS and your computer crashed something else is wrong.

A couple tips:

- make sure you are a local administrator user when you install IIS.
- If you're running antivirus script blocking, turn it off for testing.
- Verify the WWW service is running in Administrative Tools - Services

Oh, and where did you save your test asp page? A default installation on W2K uses \inetpub\wwwroot as the root folder for the webserver. Put your test file there, and try to call it from a browser using http://localhost/mytestfile.asp

my IIS is installed on here because when i restart windows my zonealarm asks for permission to accept if IIS can access the internet. i just dont understand this, thats microsoft for ya i guess. what do you think is going on?

Did you grant permission for IIS to access the internet when Zone Alarm asked you? If you didn't then that is most likely the cause of your problem. Open Zone Alarm and change the setting for access for IIS to allow it full access, to connect to the internet and act as a server.

You problem sounds nothing to do with M$, more an operator error/misunderstanding. Zone Alarm is a firewall that you can specify which programs have which access levels to and from the internet. If you don't know what you are blocking/allowing you can soon get into trouble with it.

yes, i clicked accept of course. it doesnt work
i always click accept for IIS when zonealarm asks
also when i upgraded to internet explorer 6.0.2800.1106 from internet explorer 5, i cannot get into add remove programs now, it says mshta.exe has generated errors and will be closed by windows. you will need to restart the program. i hate microsoft
so now i cant even reinstall IIS

"i hate microsoft" isn't going to get your problem solved any faster. What would help is if you posted a problem, and then posted the results of your attempts to cure that problem. You started this thread with how to get asp pages to work. But each one of your subsequent posts was about some different problem or issue. How can anyone help you if you jump all over the place?

It sounds to me like you are having some basic windows problems unrelated to IIS.