It’s always a good idea to have a copy of WordPress running on your local PC for anyone who wants to create a new WordPress Theme, test some plugins or try the latest version of WordPress.

One of the quickest ways to install WordPress locally was to use the popular XAMPP on Windows machine: but I have discovered a great free tool from Microsoft called Microsoft Web Platform Installer.  In just a few  clicks the programme lets you  download and install all the software that you will need to run WordPress.

The installer gives you the necessary framework, database and web server:

• IIS web server
• SQL Server 2008 Express DB
• .Net Framework
• PHP 5

The installation is very easy. Just go to the Microsoft Web Platform Installer website to download and install the program.  Open the Web Installer Tool and select the Web Application tab –> Blogs.  Tick WordPress from list, and click “Install” to continue. Once the installation is complete, you will need to configure MySQL database and your new WordPress blog by entering a username and password.

After the installation is complete you will find your WordPress files under C: –> inetpub –>wwwroot –> wordpress.  You can test/run your new blog by typing into your browser http://localhost/wordpress/

It took me only 5 minutes to run WordPress locally on Windows 7. Thanks to Microsoft for making it so quick and easy to setup a test blog. The best part of it is that it’s free and you can test and play with dozens of open sources web applications.