Installing Plone on Your Own PC in Minutes

One of the nicest things about Plone is that it has an incredibly simple-to-use Windows installer program.

This was created by a company called Enfold,, and it is included as part of the Windows version download from the Plone.org website. Before we get into this step-by-step, let's talk about why this is a good thing.

• You get a real Plone system running in minutes, so you can try it out for yourself, testing new designs or crazy web ideas on it without messing anything up.
• It can be uninstalled quickly also, and then reinstalled again to start with a clean slate.
• If you run a Windows-based server, the simple installation could in theory run your websites on the Internet for public use (although this can be done, you will learn in more advanced topics later why most people run Plone websites on Linux servers to provide additional anti-hacker security).
• If you need an Intranet (a website running only inside your organizations Local Area Network (LAN)) and you have a reliable Windows PC or server available, the Plone Windows installer can have you up and running quickly. For a small to moderate sized organization with a secure LAN, this arrangement is fine.

So let's get started on this process now...