If you are an Internet service provider (ISP), you can use the Windows® Internet Explorer® Customization Wizard 8 to create a custom package that automates Internet sign-up for your customers.
Important | |
The Internet sign-up option is not available for the Windows Vista® operating system. |
If you use one of the server-based Internet sign-up methods that are supported by Internet Explorer Administration Kit 8 (IEAK 8), you will use an Internet sign-up server to collect information from each user. The sign-up server adds the data to your customer database, and then sends a configuration packet back to the user's computer. This packet configures the browser for subsequent connections to your Internet services.
The following server-based sign-up methods are available in IEAK 8:
- Internet Explorer in kiosk mode. You
can specify that the sign-up screens you create are displayed in
Internet Explorer in full-screen kiosk mode.
- Internet Connection Wizard. You can
designate this wizard as the tool that new customers use to sign up
and configure their computers for Internet services. It also
enables you to reconfigure settings for users who already have
Internet accounts.
Regardless of which server-based method you choose, you should begin by doing the following tasks described in this topic:
Then, you should complete the following additional steps, depending on the sign-up method you want to use:
Prepare sign-up files and folders
To ensure that your package installs correctly, the folder that contains your custom sign-up files must include the following files:
- Signup.htm. This HTML page provides
information about your Internet services, and must include a link
to an appropriate HTML page on the sign-up server. You can
customize the sample Signup.htm file, which is located in these
folders (depending on the sign-up method you want to use):
<systemdrive>:\Program Files\Windows IEAK
8\toolkit\isp\Server\ICW or <systemdrive>:\Program
Files\Windows IEAK 8\toolkit\isp\Server\kiosk. For example, you can
add technical support information or include links to Internet
sign-up (.isp) files.
- Signup.isp. This Internet sign-up file
is used to dial your sign-up server and is referenced in
Signup.htm. This file should also contain a link to the URL of the
server script that generates your Internet settings (.ins) files.
Using the Internet Explorer Customization Wizard 8, you can
edit the parameters contained in this sign-up file. This wizard
also generates other .isp files for the sign-up process. Sample
Signup.isp files are also located in these folders (depending on
the sign-up method you want to use):
<systemdrive>:\Program Files\Windows IEAK
8\toolkit\isp\Server\ICW or <systemdrive>:\Program
Files\Windows IEAK 8\toolkit\isp\Server\kiosk.
- All other sign-up files. All related
files, including .gif and .jpg graphics files, must be saved in the
same folder with your custom sign-up files. For example, you might
want to include your own customized versions of the Install.gif
file.
Configure DHCP for IIS
If you are using an Internet Information Services (IIS) server as your sign-up server, you must configure the Internet sign-up server to provide a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) IP address to the client computer when the client connects to the server. Because the sign-up process is relatively short, the expiration time for the IP address lease can be small — possibly only a few minutes.
Because the sign-up process is intended to be used over a point-to-point dial-up connection, the IP addresses allocated for the DHCP server do not need to be formally assigned IP addresses. You should determine whether the DHCP IP addresses are valid Internet addresses or arbitrary addresses.
For more information, see your DHCP product documentation.
Register the .ins file MIME type
For your user's computer to process the .ins file automatically, you must register a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type for the .ins file with the sign-up server. This MIME type is designated application/x-Internet-signup. When the client requests an .ins file, the sign-up server responds with this MIME type, which starts the associated installation application on the client side.
You must manually edit MIME types in the registry. To add the .ins file MIME type, use Regedit.exe to add the following information.
Under this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\system32\CurrentControlSet\Services\InetInfo\Parameters\MimeMap
Add this value:
application/x-internet-signup,ins,,5
This value does not have a string associated with it. For more details about setting MIME types, you can also refer to the IIS product documentation (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=68950).
Note | |
For these registry settings to take effect, you must shut down all IIS services after adding the new MIME type. It is not sufficient simply to stop and restart the Web publishing service. (In practice, the FTP and Gopher services are not likely to be running in the sign-up server configuration.) |
Additional references
- For more information about how to enable
Internet sign-up for your customers, see Prepare for Internet
Sign-up.
- For more information about .ins files, see
Internet
Settings (.ins) Files.