General guidance
Typically the IdP installation directory is /opt/shibboleth-idp on Linux, or C:\Program Files\Shibboleth\IdP or C:\Program Files (x86)\Shibboleth\IdP on Windows. The installation directory is referred to in configuration files as %{idp.home}, and we refer to it as such here. Configuration files are located in the conf subdirectory of the IdP installation directory, that is to say %{idp.home}/conf.
Take configuration a step at a time; work on a particular configuration task, and test and modify your configuration until you have achieved the desired result. Check the %{idp.home}/logs/idp-process.log and the container logs.
Generally we suggest the following order for configuring the IdP: