Cable providers often block default http ports like 80, 8080, 1080 etc. in order to prevent 'illegal hosting'. Windows Personal Web Server runs on port 80 by default.
This can be quit annoying for testing purposes, for instance to let people bestatest on your machine on another http port it means running a second server, i know pws sucks and its 80 Mb compared to the >1Mb package of apache or xitami, ..however

Nowhere in PWS console is the option for changing the port but i found the way to do it on another techie site;

(with regedit) change the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\ control\ServiceProvider\ServiceTypes\W3svc

and change the TcpPort to any other you want (eg. port 2180 = 884 hex)

Source:

http://tips.winmag.com/search.asp?cat_id=274&tip_id=3275

    7 months later

    To whom it may concern,
    I am running pws with windows 98.

    I tried doing above, changing the port in the registry to 2180 which didn't work.

    I tried to view it by typing in:
    http://ipaddress:2180 and it wouldn't work.

    I then tried it as
    http://ipaddress

    still doesn't work from outside my computer.

    On the computer which I changed the port in the registry,

    http://localhost still displays the files, however if i type http://localhost:2180 it displays nothing.

    please help.

      a month later

      Well, I found the solutions.
      Taken from:
      http://www.coveryourasp.com/Archives.asp?issue=2

      Paul Hanly is easily this weeks Hero. After discovering the
      site I have a constant stream of very insightful suggestions
      and tips. Some more follow in the feedback section, but
      here\'s one that could be fun to play with:

      \"Some users who are hobbiests may wish to use PWS on a port
      other than 80 in combination with a domain name from
      http://www.dns2go.com so they can show off their ASP pages
      to friends without having to buy hosting which caters for
      ASP and Access or SQL.

      The port on PWS can be changed:
      1. First Stop PWS or at RUN type C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\inetsrv\pws.exe /stop
      [If PWS is running it the change may not take effect]
      2. At a DOS prompt type the following
      [Location of mdutil.exe] C:\mdutil.exe SET W3SVC/1/Serverbindings \":8080:\"
      3. Start PWS or at RUN type C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe -e w3svc
      4. In webbrowser type http://localhost:8080 to verify change
      to port 8080
      5. You may or may not have to restart your computer for the \
      change to take affect.

        3 months later

        I tried doing this and it didn't work for me. I can't start my PWS anymore.

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