Creating Mysite host in moss 2007

1) Create a new web application (e.g. http://mossdev1:25000/)
2) Inspect Managed Paths for the new web application. You should already have:
(root) - Explicit inclusion
sites - Wildcard inclusion
3) Delete managed paths:
sites - Wildcard inclusion
4) Create managed paths:
personal - Wildcard inclusion
mysite - Explicit inclusion
5) End state for managed paths should be:
(root) - Explicit inclusion (thanks to imsaurabh for catching this!)
personal - Wildcard inclusion
mysite - Explicit inclusion
6) Create a site collection at /mysite/ managed path. This will use a My Site Host template:
Choose correct web application (e.g. http://mossdev1:25000/)
Title: My Site Host (doesn’t matter, really)
URL: http://mossdev1:25000/mysite (no fill-in because path is explicit in managed paths)
Template: Enterprise (tab) -> My Site Host
Specify primary and secondary administrators.
Click OK.
7) Create a blank site collection at the / managed path to enable self-service site creation:
Choose correct web application (e.g. http://mossdev1:25000/)
Title: Blank site (doesn’t matter, really)
URL: http://mossdev1:25000/ (no fill-in because path is explicit in managed paths)
Template: Collaboration (tab) -> Blank Site
Specify primary and secondary administrators.
Click OK.
8) Enable Self-Service Management. Choose from Application Management -> Application Security.

Now that you’ve created the host, here’s how to make sure it works properly in the SSP’s My Site Settings:

1) Navigate to My Site Settings (go to your SSP’s admin pages, it’s the 3rd link in the 1st section).
a) For form’s sake, inspect the Preferred Search Center entry. This URL should end in /SearchCenter/Pages/.
Set Personal Site Services to http://mossdev1:25000/mysite/. Note that this points to the URL for the explicit inclusion path and My Site Host Template site collection you created above.
b) Set Personal site Location into just personal. Note that this points to the URL (after SharePoint puts context to it) for the Wildcard inclusion managed path you created above.
c) Choose the 2nd Site Naming Format: User name (resolve conflicts by using domain_username).
d) Enable Allow user to choose the language of their personal site.
e) Disable My Site to support global deployments.
f) Default Reader Site Group: NT AUTHORITY\authenticated users.