WordPress Network

Before making a network of my WordPress sites, I want to test it out on my local box. I have IIS 7 installed on a Windows 7 64bit machine, PHP extenstions installed, and both SQL Server 2008 Express and MySql Server 5.5 locally.

Using the abstraction plugin to connect WordPress to SQL server, I was able to install and get the main site running, but it broke when I attempted the steps to establish a network. Specifically, when I went through Tools>Network Setup, it failed to provide the code for the next step, showing only that since I installed on localhost, I could not use subdomains. Attempting to restart from scratch, I fail on the set up phase with either a 500 error or unable to connect to the db after step 1.

Starting from scratch with MySql, I have the install working and when I go to the steps to establish a network, I get the code and make the changes only to, upon attempting to re-login to the main site, have a db error failure to connect.

My goal is to have a main install that manages the sub sites, plugins, themes, etc, through subfolders and, eventually, have domain names pointing to those subfolders for micro sites.

I have tried to toubleshoot, but save for a single non-repeated error in the log from the die function from functions.php not being defined, I cannot fathom what the problem may be.

Any tips on creating a single box WordPress install that uses SQL Server (primary goal, however can use MySQL) and extending that into a network to import existing stand alone installs?