How to install ActivePerl

	How to install ActivePerl
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If you plan on running our scripts on your Windows PC computer, then you will need to install ActivePerl on your Windows PC comptuer (ActivePerl is free). If you plan on running our scripts on your Linux server, you don't need to install ActivePerl on your Linux server since Linux comes with Perl.

Before we begin the process of downloading ActivePerl and installing it on your Windows PC computer, you should make sure that your Windows PC computer meets the following system requirements for ActivePerl:

35MB of free disk space (typical installation of ActivePerl)

Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000 or XP operating system

64MB of RAM memory (128MB or more is recommended)

Pentium CPU processor or higher

The steps to download and install ActivePerl are straight-forward and are detailed below. However, some people prefer installing from a CD-ROM rather than downloading the ActivePerl files. A CD-ROM that contains ActivePerl is available for purchase from ActiveState; see: ActiveCD details.

Download ActivePerl v5.6.1.635 (this .msi file is about 8.5MB).
Double-click on the ActivePerl .msi installation file. Follow any instructions that it shows. Use any default settings it may ask you about. If it asks you to reboot the computer, click "Yes".

If you have Windows 98/Me/NT, you may get an error when you try to open the .msi file saying that a newer version of the Windows Installer is required. If so, download and install Windows Installer 2.0+ using one of the following links. Note: Windows XP already comes with Windows Installer.
- download for Windows 9x/Me, or
- download for Windows NT.
- Windows XP already comes with Windows Installer. Nothing to download.
ActivePerl is now installed and you should now be able to run our Perl scripts on your computer. If you want to test to see if Perl is working, then continue with the following steps. Otherwise, you can stop here.
Open an MS-DOS window.

To do that, click on the "Start" menu (at the lower left of your screen) and select "Run...". Then type "command" (no quotation marks) into the box and click "OK".
You should see an MS-DOS window appear.
Type "perl -v" (no quotation marks) and press the Enter key. You should see text that says "This is perl, ...". This message tells you that perl is installed properly.
If you want to learn more about how to use an MS-DOS window, see the "How to use an MS-DOS window" tutorial. Otherwise, you can stop here. To close the MS-DOS window, click the "X" close button (top right of the window frame), or type "exit" (no quotation marks) and press the Enter key.