Installing and upgrading help

Hi All,

I've tried to install Moodle 1.8.3 latest package with MSSQL SERVER 2000. I use XAMPP latest package as PHP/APACHE environment.

When I install it first time, I had a message said that Moodle need mssql 9.0.0. I cannot find php_mssql 9.0.0 extension, does anyone know where is it?

I've tried the method in this forum said that you can modifed environment.xml in admin directory from 9.0 to 8.0, but after done this, I got a sql error said "$CFG->unicodedb =1" error when create database structure.
Also, I've tried to install freeTDS fellow http://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_MSSQL_for_PHP, but it looks cann't work.

Thanks for any help!

Tang