Installing CMO on an Episerver 9 site

For the client I’m currently working at I had to install CMO in the current project.
According to the resources on Episerver World, the only way to install CMO is to create a new 7.5 site using the Deployment Center and add CMO to it. Then update to the latest version. For us this was not the way to go.
The project is developed using the latest Epi version (9.x), so there is no easy way to install CMO. There is a Nuget package available, but this contains only updates.

However, when trying to install CMO using Deployment Center on the v9 project and looking at the error messages, it wasn’t that hard to fool the Deployment Center install.

Use the steps below to install CMO:

1. Make sure your site is configured in IIS. Deployment Center must be able to find your site in IIS.
2. Change a few lines in your web.config

   <episerver xmlns="http://EPiServer.Configuration.EPiServerSection"> 
     <sites> 
       <site siteId="[Site ID as configured in admin mode]" /> 
     </sites>
   </episerver>

    

3. Copy a version 7.5 Episerver.dll file to the bin folder of your project. (Make sure to backup the original file)
   You can find the Episerver.dll file in your Deployment Center install folder.
4. Install CMO using Deployment Center.
5. After the install has finished restore the original Episerver.dll file and remove the <sites> section from the web.config file
6. Update to the latest version of CMO using the Nuget update package

That’s it. You now have a fully working version of CMO in your project.

** UPDATE **

Just moments after posting this blog I noticed Jeroen Stemerdink found another way to add CMO. He has created his own Nuget package for it. The advantage of his solution is you don’t have to use the old Deployment Center any more. But both solution are equally simple to use, pick what suits you best.