Native installations for apache tend not to port well (or perhaps, easily) over to windows/IIS. Thankfully, ISAPI3 from HeliconTech.com supports .htaccess files and makes the job a little easier. WordPress works fine on windows/IIS until you want nice permalinks.

After MUCH searching, testing, and error log analysis, I’ve got a working solution for Windows Server 2003 with ISAPI_Rewrite 3.1.x, running php 5.2.x and mysql 5.0.x community.

1. index.php should be set up in IIS as a default document (same place you find default.asp, index.htm, etc)
2. edit wp-settings.php
   Find:
   

   <?php
   

   
   at the very top of the file.

   Replace with:
   

   <?php
   //*****************************
   //    IIS FIX
   //
   $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] = $_SERVER['HTTP_X_REWRITE_URL'];
   //*****************************
   

3. create the following htaccess file with the Helicon Manager:
   

   
   RewriteEngine On
   
   #RewriteBase /
   
   RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -f [OR]
   RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
   RewriteRule . - [L]
   RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(wp-.*) $2 [L]
   RewriteRule ^([_0-9a-zA-Z-]+/)?(.*\.php)$ $2 [L]
   RewriteRule . /blog/index.php [L]
   

   • Note: You may need to alter the RewriteBase or the last rule to your specific location. In my particular case, I was installed on domain.com/blog/

From here, you can edit your permalink structure as you normally would. If the default options has index.php/ as part of the rule, you can remove that.