I hadn’t checked the rss feeds yet, but seem to have the same problem as you.

Copying the full URI gives a 404 error. This is strange as the file does exist in the directory.

I made a backup copy of the wp-rss2.php file and deleted all, but the xml tag. The file loads fine.

It appears there is something in the page code that is causing the problem. I’ll try to make time to investigate. I did note, while installing WP, that there are some oustanding issues with WP and W2K3. This may be one…

1. (Mark) While it may be possible to use old password encryption with MySQL5, there may be other issues, such as incompatibility with PHP. I did a lot of reading and research on use of WordPress with IIS and most of the successful installations used the above combination. I was looking for the most simple straight forward solution. I believe the combination above is it.

3. (Ric) I too have noticed the loss of search friendly URLs and am actively working the issue. I haven’t had a problem with external stylesheets or javascript files. If you check the HTML in link above, you’ll see that both are happily co-existing.

4. (Kevin) The only known problem with WordPress and PHP5 is that PHP5 does not install a required MySQL extension. PHP4.3 installs the extension. Again, it may be possible to install PHP5 and manually install a MySQL extension, but PHP4.3 is the straight forward, simpler way.

Yes, I’m recommending MySQL4.0 over 4.1. Yes, the newest versions contain an installation wizard, but I didn’t have any trouble with installing manually. Just copy the MySQL structure to the desired location and create a configuration file in C:/Windows. Worked first time.

There was only one pitfall with installing PHP4.3. After running the install program, I only needed to open the MSC and associate the PHP extension with the application. Ditto when I first tried PHP5.

Again, I’m not saying that you can’t use the other versions, just that the above process provided a simple straight forward method of installing WordPress on IIS6/Win 2K3. Its a file combination that’s compatible and works.

If you feel the need for the latest and greatest or to exploit some advanced feature, knock your socks off. If you just want to install WordPress and get a blog going with little hassle, what I did works.