Installing Movable Type on Windows

I know, I'm crazy. But, I thought this might be useful for someone, so I wrote it. Please post feedback, suggestions, errors, etc.

  1. Download and install ActiveState’s ActivePerl 5.8.4 (the MSI option is the correct one). Accept the default choices while installing.
  2. It would probably be a good idea to reboot after installing Active Perl.
  3. After rebooting, make sure you’re online (the next bit needs to download something), go to Start, Programs, Active State Active Perl, then Perl Package Manager.
  4. At the prompt, type install DB_File and hit Enter.
  5. Once that’s finished, close that window and continue.
  6. Download Apache 2.0 (apache_2.0.52-win32-x86-no_ssl.exe) from an Apache mirror (this one worked for me).
  7. Double-click the downloaded file, and follow the directions, until you get to the Server Information of the installer. When you get to that part, enter the following:
    1. Network Domain: localhost
    2. Server Name: localhost
    3. Administrator’s E-mail Address: Your E-mail Address
    4. Select “only for the Current User, on Port 8080, when started Manually”.
  8. After the Server Information section, choose “Typical” and finish the install. It should install in “C:\Program Files\Apache Group” and create a directory called “Apache2”.
  9. In your Start Menu, you should now have an “Apache HTTP Server 2.0.52” folder. Click it, then “Control Apache Server”, then “Start Apache in Console”. This will open a little console window.
  10. Now, you should be able to go to http://localhost:8080 and see the default Apache install page. Congratulations, you’ve installed your own webserver!
  11. But, we need to make sure your cgi scripts will work! Open c:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf\http://httpd.conf in your favorite web browser, and look for the following line: #Add Handler cgi-script .cgi. Remove the # sign and save the file.
  12. Next, you need to install Movable Type. You can download it from their website. Be sure you download the Full Version, with the .zip extension.
  13. Unzip that file. It should give you a new directory.
  14. In that directory, you should have a bunch of files with the .cgi extension (this part is going to suck, just so you know). You need to open all of those .cgi files in your favorite text editor, and replace the first line: #!/usr/bin/perl with #!c:\Perl\bin\perl.exe. Save those files.
  15. Now, you need to copy all of the files (except the docs and images directories,mt.js and styles.css) from the new Movable Type directory to: c:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\cgi-bin.
  16. Once the files have been copied over, you now need to create a new directory in c:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\cgi-bin called db.
  17. We’re almost done moving files around, but not quite. You need to create a new directory in c:\Program Files\Apache Group\htdocs called mt-static.
  18. Once the new directory is created, copy the docs and images directories, mt.js and styles.css into it (they should still be in the directory you unzipped).
  19. Next,open c:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\cgi-bin\mt.cfg in your favorite text editor and change CGIPath to http://localhost:8080/cgi-bin.
  20. Still in mt.cfg, look for the StaticWebPath line (you’ll need to scroll, it’s a ways down). Remove that line, and enter: StaticWebPath /mt-static
  21. You can now save and close mt.cfg.
  22. (almost done, really). Now, open up your favorite web browser, and go to http://localhost:8080/cgi-bin/mt-check.cgi
  23. If that page loads, we did something right, and we’re ready to really have some fun.
  24. Go to http://localhost:8080/cgi-bin/mt-load.cgi and watch it create your blog.
  25. After mt-load.cgi finishes running, go to http://localhost:8080/cgi-bin/mt.cgi and log in with the username Melody and the password Nelson. Once you’ve logged in, look in the top righthand corner of the page for user: Melody and click Melody. Here, you can change your username and password to something you’re more likely to remember. Now, go have fun!

And, if this isn't enough and you want more, I'm teaching a class on Movable Type over at Eclectic Academy. If you want to know even more about MT, please go sign up, although this is pretty much the first lesson, the rest of them will be fantastic.