Install Sitecore 6.6 in Windows 8

Sitecore 6.6 is officially not supported for Windows 8. As per SDN, Sitecore supports Windows 8 with Sitecore CMS 7.0 and forward.

Here is another way to install the Sitecore 6.6 in Windows 8 instance.

There are two options to install Sitecore in Windows machine. 

• EXE installation checks the IIS version and if it is IIS8 (windows 8), it throws error saying IIS is not supported. 
• ZIP with files and databases is another way to install Sitecore in Windows machine. The later one helps to install the Sitecore when IIS is not supported.

CMS Installation Guide explains the steps to do to complete the installation from ZIP file.

Simple steps:

• Extract the .zip archive in a folder
• Set permission for ‘/Website’ folder with Read access. User: IUSR
• Set permission for ‘/Website’ and ‘/Data’ folder with Modify access. User: Network Service.
• Create an Application pool with .net framework 4.0 (or 4.5), Identity: NetworkService.
• Create a website with root folder to website.
• Add a host (C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc\hosts) entry for the local access and browse the site.

Before that, asp.net should be registered in IIS. Unlike IIS7, asp.net should be registered in "Turn Windows Features On or Off" in Programs and Features of Control Panel. You can select the asp.net in the list and click Ok to register it in IIS8.

After the setup, you can work on Sitecore 6.6 in Windows 8. 

Sitecore 6.5 vs. Sitecore 6.6: StripLanguage Pipeline Changes

StripLanguage pipeline removes the language in the requested URL. 

This is based on the LinkManager property. LinkManager.LanguageEmbedding should not be "Never".

We had a requirement to configure a site with Virtual folder. Virtual folder was ‘fr’ which is the short form of Language French. 

So the URL of the website will be http://website/fr/.

In Sitecore 6.5, LanguageEmbedding was set to Never and site was browsed with virtual folder (/fr) without any issues.

In Sitecore 6.6, the same concept was not working. Somehow this language was removed even before ItemResolver. We checked the source code and the logic based on LinkManager has been removed. 

SDN Release notes: Logic has been removed as part of 6.6. upgrage.

We raised a ticket with Sitecore and waiting for any workaround to have the same functionality. #400317

Update: Sitecore has registered this as a bug for Sitecore 6.6 + version and they will inform us as soon as it is fixed. 

Update: Issue has been fixed in Sitecore CMS 6.6.0 rev. 131211 (6.6.0 Update-7).