Its not the directory that matters. If you're using Apache, it has to be told that the directory (cgi-bin) is allowed to execute code. It should look something like this in the httpd.conf file:

<Directory /path/to/your/cgi-bin>
     Options ExecCGI
     Order allow,deny
     Allow from all
</Directory>
[download]

If you have IIS I'm not sure of the options

Yes. is there some thing wrong in it. I presume the "?" should not really matter as I am no passing any parameters to it.

A 'file:///' url won't use a web server. It just opens the file in your browser. You can only test CGI programs by going through a browser.

--
<http://www.dave.org.uk>

"The first rule of Perl club is you do not talk about Perl club."
-- Chip Salzenberg

I have now moved the script to cgi-bin folder (file:///usr/local/apache/cgi-bin/simpleImage.cgi) and repeated chmod 755. It still does the same (showing the code). Does this mean that just putting the code in cgi-bin does not solve the purpose.

Sounds that way to me.

Do you have _any_ CGI programs working on this web server? It looks like your server isn't configured to run CGI programs at all. If you told us which web server you were using, someone might be able to help you fix that.

I have no cgi scripts running on the webserver. This would be the first one Thanks