SharePoint development environment setup

Question

i need to setup a development environment for writing Share Point Web Parts. What do I exactly need?

My development machine is a Windows XP Prof. with Visual Studio

Answer 1

I believe the easiest and the fastest way to get started developing for SharePoint is to use the Microsoft Virtual PC and download MOSS 2007 VHD from Microsoft. It has Windows Server 2003, MOSS 2007, MS Office 2007 (with SharePoint Designer) and Visual Studio 2005 already installed and pre-configured, so it's ready to for you to use. You could also install your own copy of VS 2008, helps with workflow development.