Just had my first experience with Windows Web Platform Installer and it was flawless. Simply go to
http://www.microsoft.com/web/downloads/platform.aspx
. Download. When installing don't worry about "Web Platform" go straight to "Web Application" and install Joomla (see image below). It automatically installs mysql and php as well. Then the Joomla site starts straight up when you go to localhost. Amazingly simple.
This image is hidden for guests.
Please log in or register to see it.
I even deleted the installed Joomla, copied over a Rocket Launcher install and installed that fine as well. Just write down all of the database settings etc. from the initial install.
I know about XAMPP and WAMP, but they aren't as simple as this is and this just works. I'm also running Windows 7 64-bit and no issues with that either.
Hope this helps others as much as it helped me!
P.S. phpBB and Wordpress are install choices as well (and many other things)
JT