I have the debugger working right and I can step through my php program.

But after a little while (maybe five minutes) I get a message "CGI Timeout
The specified CGI application exceeded the allowed time for processing. The server has deleted the process."

I googled this message and from other responses have changed the timeout values for IIS and restarted the server, but it didn't seem to change anything.

These are the steps to change what I changed:
- start Internet Information Services in Admin
- right click on server
- set connection timeout to 90,000 seconds
- choose Home Directory tab
- click "configuration"
- choose Options tab
- set "session timeout" to 20,000 minutes
- set ASP script timeout to 90,000 seconds

I also increased the "session wait timeout" in debugger tab of PhpEd settings.

I'm using the IIS that comes with WinXP, PhpEd 3.3.3, php 4.3.10, DBG v2.16.16.

I installed the NuSphere tech platform, too, but I'd rather not use it if I dont have to.

What did I do wrong?

Short Answer: Set the IIS CGI timeout to a high value, like 999999.

Long Answer

Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) automatically terminates CGI programs that run for more than five minutes. Unfortunately, your debug session may easily take that much, and if IIS terminates it, you receive the timeout message. The solution is to reconfigure the IIS server to increase the CGI timeout to a much larger value. Here's how (instructions are for Windows 2000 Server; other Windows variants may be slightly different):

In the Start Menu, go the Settings menu, and choose Control Panels.

Open the Administrative Tools control panel.

Open the Internet Services Manager item.

Right-click on the computer icon in the left panel and choose Properties from the menu that appears.

Click "Edit..." next to "WWW Services".

Click the "Home Directory" tab.

Click the "Profile..." button.

Click the "Process Options" tab.

Enter a large value in the CGI script timeout field, perhaps 999999.

Those are the exact instructions that I found previously.

There is no CGI script timeout option there, or in any of the other tabs. There was only "ASP script timeout" and the other options I described in my original post.

The message given indicates that it was IIS's decision to stop CGI process and timeout setting must be there. What IIS version do you run?

It says version 5.1. It came with XP Home and may have been updated through windowsupdate.com.

I believe you're right and it's IIS's timeout setting and if I could only find it I'd be a happy man. All the references on the web I can find give the same instructions, which are consistent with yours.

I don't have a "Process Options" tab but I do have an "Options" tab where the ASP script timeout value is.

try http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/bc0c4729-e892-4871-b8f3-fcbf489f2f09.mspx?mfr=true
and don't miss metaedit. Seems that's the only solution for you.

Excellent. I was able to change the CGI timeout using MetaEdit. Thanks.