Recently, somebody asked me how to install ADXStudio, and I thought it good to put in all the steps in a blog. Here we go.
There are two ways to install ADXstudio.
  • Cloud: In this scenario the website will be hosted on the cloud, and we won’t have control over the code.
  • Local Installation: In this scenario, we host the website and we have complete control over the code.
In this blog, we will see how to install ADXstudio locally.  Following are the steps for this procedure.
  • Download the latest version of ADXstudio from https://demo.adxstudio.com/
  • Install the downloaded software and it will copy a set of files into your machine. Please note the location (by default it will be in C:\Program Files (x86)\Adxstudio).
  • Log on to your Dynamics CRM Online account
  • Click on Dynamics CRM Ribbon and then select Settings > Solutions.
  • Click on Import Solution and then click on Browse.
  • Navigate to the folder where ADXStudio files were copied upon installing ADXStudio.
  • Select AdxstudioInstaller.Zip file and click on Next. Please take a look at the screen shot below for location of AdxstudioInstaller.Zip.
adxstudio installation
  • Click on Import and finish the import process.
  • Once the installation is over, you can see ADXSTUDIO INSTALLER on your solution screen as shown below.
adxstudio installer
  • Next we go and download customer portal to our CRM Instance.
  • Click on CRM Ribbon > Settings > Solutions and click on ADXSTUDIO INSTALLER. This will open another screen which will take you to ADXStudio installation page.
  • Click on the left hand menu and select website gallery as shown in the image below.
adxstudio portal feautures
  • In the next screen, click on the Install button beside ADXStudio Portals customer portal as shown in the image below, and then click on the blue install button at the bottom of the screen.
install button
install button 2
  • The wizard will import the required files to you Dynamics CRM Instance.
  • When the import is complete refresh your Dynamics CRM screen and you can see a portals tab appear on the ribbon.
  • Click on the Ribbon > Portals > Websites; you will see the website in your Dynamics CRM Instance.
ribbons portals
  • The next step is to create a site in your local IIS.
  • Open IIS and add a new site as shown below
add website
  • In the physical path, enter the path where the ADX files were copied initially when we installed ADXStudio. We need to specify the location of Master Portal, as shown in the screen shot below
master portal
  • Click OK to close the wizard.
  • Next, we need to specify theCRM instance to which this site should connect.
  • Right click on the created site and in the quick menu, select Manage Website >Browse as shown in the screenshot below.
adxstudio home
  • The following screen will pop up.
adxstudio portals for microsoft dynamics crm
  • Please fill in the required fields and click on Check Connection. Once validated, the following screen will appear.
adxstudio portals for microsoft dynamics crm2
  • Select the portal website from the Adxstudio Portals Website dropdown and click Apply.
  • The connection string will be created automatically and stored in the App_Data folder of the physical path for the website. The password will be encrypted so it is safe. Given below is the location of App_Data folder.
app data folder
  • This concludes the Adxstudio installation and initial configuration of the portal.

I hope this blog was able to clearly discuss how to install and configure ADX Studio locally.