Manual installation

To install ISAPI_Rewrite manually you will need to download distinct manual installation package containing all required files. Lite version of ISAPI_Rewrite does not support manual installation. You can install all features or only a part of them.

Manual installation package includes the following files:

  • ISAPI_Rewrite.dll - this is ISAPI filter itself.
  • ISAPI_RewriteProxy.dll - this is ISAPI extension module required for proxy operations.
  • license.rtf - product EULA.
  • ISAPI_Rewrite.chm - documentation file.
  • httpd.conf - sample global configuration file.

To install ISAPI_Rewrite first you need to register ISAPI_Rewrite.dll as ISAPI filter in your IIS system. By default ISAPI_Rewrite.dll was developed to work as global ISAPI fiter. While it is still possible to install it on a praticular web site you need to remember that only one inctance of ISAPI_Rewrite.dll can be loaded at a time to one IIS worker process. This means if you decide to install ISAPI_Rewrite ISAPI filters separately on each site you will need to turn high isolation mode for these sites to spawn a separate worker process for these sites. This is only required if you install ISAPI_Rewrite.dll on each web site separately and we usually recommend to install it globaly on entire IIS instead.

To register ISAPI filter on Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 use IIS MMC snap-in to add ISAPI_Rewrite.dll to ISAPI filters list either for the whole IIS server or for specific web sites only. On Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 first you will need to install optional IIS component: World Wide Web Services\Application Development Features\ISAPI Filters.

If you need proxy functions you will need to register ISAPI_RewriteProxy.dll as ISAPI extension to serve *.rwhlp file extensions. On different IIS versions it requires different operations. Please refer to the documentation of IIS version you are managing for explanation on how to register new ISAPI extension and map it to file extension in IIS system. On Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 first install optional IIS component World Wide Web Services\Application Development Features\ISAPI Extensions. Use short (8.3-style) path name for ISAPI_RewriteProxy.dll module path or IIS will fail to load the module if there is a space character in the path.

Put httpd.conf file near ISAPI_Rewrite.dll file and edit it.

To register ISAPI_Rewrite product add the following lines the httpd.conf file:

RegistrationName=Your registration name
RegistrationCode=REG-CODE-PROVIDED-FROM-HELICON

Check file system permissions as described in the section Permissions required to run ISAPI_Rewrite.