Are you a blogger? Or do you love blogging but feel lazy to login to your CMS (Content Management System) in your website to publish them? If so, Microsoft has created the perfect tool for you. The name of the tool is Windows Live Writer. It is a desktop application for publishing blogs which eliminates the hassle of logging in to the CMS everytime. It was first launched on November 6th, 2007 as Windows Live Writer 2008 and its last stable release was launched on August 7, 2012 as Windows Live Writer 2012. Windows Live Writer supports the blogging platforms like WordPress, Blogger, SharePoint and many others, therefore, allowing the bloggers using various platforms to publish their blogs without hassles.
Now, let us move on to setting up Windows Live Writer for blogging. Through this post, we will teach you about setting up Windows Live Writer for blogging at TechNetNepal.net, which is a teaching-learning-sharing portal of Microsoft Innovation Center Nepal. For being able to blog at TechNetNepal.net, you will first need to have a blogging space. For getting your very own blogging space, you will have to create an account at TechNetNepal, then send an email to mic@micnepal.org, requesting them to provide you a blogging space.
Step 1: Download Windows Essentials 2012 from here. And run the file that is downloaded.
Step 2: After showing the blue colored window (shown above) for a while, you will be displayed a window with the question “What do you want to install?”. There, choose the second option saying “Choose the programs you want to install.”
Step 3: In a window asking you to “select programs to install”, put a tick mark on ‘Writer’ and click ‘Next’.
Step 4: Then, the installation will begin. It will take some minutes. As soon as the installation completes, a similar window will appear on your screen. Click on ‘Close’.
Step 5: Now, go to Start Menu and run Windows Live Writer. You will be shown Microsoft Services Agreement. Click on ‘Accept’ and a configuration wizard shows up.
Step 6: Click on ‘Next’ to see the wizard asking you “What blog service do you use?”. Since we are trying to connect TechNetNepal’s account here, you will have to choose ‘Other services’ and click ‘Next’.
Step 7: Now this (the window shown below) is the place where you will have to input the URL of your blog (i.e. http://technetnepal.net in our case), and your login credentials (the login credentials are the credentials that we use for logging in to TechNetNepal). You can put a tick on ‘Remember my password’ if you want the application to keep your credentials saved for the future purposes.
Step 8: A window showing “Setting up your blog account” will be shown for some minutes. After the setup is finished, you will be asked to “Select blog type”. Choose ‘Community Server’ from the dropdown list. And set the remote posting web address to http://technetnepal.net/blogs/metablog.ashx. Then, move ahead by hitting ‘Next’.
Step 9: Now, you will be asked to select your blog. Choose your blog from the list shown and click ‘Next’. In my case, it’s ‘Sagun’s Blog’.
Step 10: You’ll again see the “Setting up your blog account” window for some time and after its completion, you will see the message “Your blog has been set up”. Finally, it’s time to click on ‘Finish’ and ‘Start’ blogging!
Now you’ll be taken to a window which will be similar to the screenshot given below. Now, to publish your blog, you’ll have to set the title of your blog and write up the content. Then you can finally click on ‘Publish’ button at the top left corner of the window to get your blog published on your TechNetNepal blog.
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