Tag Archives: install

Installing SharePoint Server 2010 and SQL Server 2012 (RC0) on Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I’m normally using SharePoint Server 2010 on my Windows 7-based laptop. After switching to Windows 8 Consumer Preview I wanted to see how SharePoint performs with SQL Server 2012 (RC0) and the new operating system. This post outlines the steps needed for getting SharePoint up and running in a single-user development/test environment.

Step 1: Install and configure IIS 8

I find it better to install IIS manually via Add/Remove Programs. This way I can make sure I have everything I need for SharePoint. Here are the steps to perform:

Go to Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs (shortcut: Win-R, and type appwiz.cpl). Select Turn Windows Features on or off from the left taskpane:

image

Make sure that .NET Framework 3.5 is selected:

image

It’s enabled if you’ve installed any programs on Windows that are based on .NET 3.5. Windows 8 CP will prompt for installation of .NET 3.5 at the time.

Select Web Management Tools under Internet Information Services:

image

Select IIS Metabase and IIS 6 configuration compatibility under IIS 6 Management Compatibility. This is required for SharePoint.

Make sure you’ve selected ASP.NET 3.5 and .NET Extensibility 3.5 under World Wide Web Services:

image

In Common HTTP Features, select all:

image

Under Performance Features, select both Dynamic and Static Content Compression:

image

Under Security you’ll need at least Windows Authentication:

image

I ended up with the following selections:

image

Installation will take a minute and shouldn’t require a separate installation media, since the bits are already on the disk.

When installation is complete, verify that IIS is operational by going to IIS Manager (Win-R > inetmgr):

image

IIS will also prompt you to download the latest Web Platform Installer 3.0 bits. While these are pretty useful you don’t need them at the moment, so just click No.

Verify that the Default Web Site is running and use a web browser to open http://localhost:

image

If you can see the new IIS 8 logo, you’ve got the essentials up and running for IIS.

Step 2: Install and configure SQL Server 2012 (Release Candidate 0)

There’s no reason to use SQL Express for SharePoint so we’ll deploy the latest Release Candidate of SQL Server 2012. Since the RTM of MSSQL2012 is almost here, I’ll update this post with the full bits when they become available.

You can download RC0 here.

If you downloaded the ISO image it should mount natively with Windows 8 CP. Run Setup and choose Installation and then New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation.

For RC0, select Free Edition (default option):

image

Select SQL Server Feature Installation:

image

In Feature Selection, select Database Engine Services and Management Tools (Basic and Complete).

In Instance Configuration select Default Instance:

image

In Server Configuration, choose the desired service accounts. For collation, you can use the defaults.

In Database Engine Configuration, choose Windows Authentication. Add the necessary accounts as SQL administrators.

Complete the wizard with defaults and start the install.

Great success:

image

Make sure to grant proper SQL Server roles for the service accounts you intend on using with SharePoint Server 2010.

Step 3: Patch SharePoint Server 2010 before installation

I downloaded the latest bits for SharePoint Server 2010 from MSDN Subscriptions, which is basically SharePoint Server 2010 with Service Pack 1 from June 2011. It’s a bit old since the latest Cumulative Update is December 2011 CU, and February 2011 CU is just around the corner (delayed to next week – at the time of writing, that means March 12 through March 16, 2012).

Before initiating SharePoint installation we need to patch the SP2010 with SP1-installation media with December 2011 CU.

First, copy the .exe file from MSDN with SP2010 and SP1 to a folder, say c:temp. Then extract the .exe to enable slipstreaming of patches with /extract:c:tempSP:

image

Extraction takes a few moments:

image

You should now have a nice and tidy folder with SP2010 bits in c:tempsp:

image

c:tempspUpdates should include SP1:

image

Now slipstream December 2011 CU with the same /extract –command you used earlier but use a different folder, i.e. c:tempcu:

image

Finally, copy the contents of c:tempcu to c:tempspupdates.

You’ll note that the new File Copy-dialog in Windows 8 leaves pending questions last, so make sure you overwrite any files that match the destination folder. Otherwise you’ll end up with a mix of SP1 and December CU files and that’s just mean.

Part 4: Install SharePoint Server 2010 prerequisites

You’ll need to install the prerequisites, which can be downloaded from the following links:

  • Microsoft Sync Framework
  • SQL Server Native Client
  • Windows Identity Framework (not applicable for Windows 8 CP)
  • Chart Controls
  • SQL Server Analysis Services (ADOMD.NET)

Don’t forget to install Filter Pack 2.0, it’s under c:tempspPrerequisiteInstallerFilesFilterPack:

image

Since Windows Identity Framework won’t install on Windows 8 CP, you need to enable WIF via Add/Remove Programs > Turn Windows Features on or off:

image

Part 5: Install SharePoint Server 2010 bits

Before commencing with the installation of SharePoint, make sure to modify config.xml to allow installation on a workstation (non-server) Windows version. Just add AllowWindowsClientInstall in filessetupconfig.xml:

image

Run Setup.exe. First, enter a product key:

image

Read the license terms. Or just click Next if you are in a hurry.

image

Choose Server Farm:

image

Choose Server Type: Complete

image

And that’s it, installing will take a moment.

image

When complete, unselect the option to run Configuration Wizard and click Close.

Part 6: Configure SharePoint Server 2010

Run the Products and Configuration Wizard. Choose Create a new server farm.

image

In Specify Configuration Database Settings, choose a database server, config database name and credentials:

image

Enter a farm passphrase:

image

In Configure SharePoint Central Administration Web Application, choose a port and authentication provider:

image

Complete the wizard and wait a few minutes while it runs. It will most probably error in the end (Step 8) with a provisioning error for web.config:

image

The “There’s a duplicate ‘system.web.extensions/scripting/scriptResourceHandler’ section defined” error is a known issue. For non-SharePoint applications the fix is a bit different, so for SharePoint the fix fairly simple: Just change the IIS application pools to use .NET Framework 2.0.x instead of the default (.NET 4.0):

image

You’ll need to change the .NET Framework version from v4.0 to v2.0.x for all the application pools that SharePoint is using:

  • SharePoint Central Administration v4
  • SecurityTokenServiceApplicationPool
  • SharePoint Web Services Root
  • The application pool that has a guid in the name, like 22f818c63b2c466b9f7681cff8a6c366

You can also change the .NET Framework version on DefaultAppPool. This makes certain that future web apps you provision in SharePoint will get the correct .NET version.

Re-run SharePoint Products and Configuration Wizard and it will pick up automatically from the correct provisioning phase. This time provisioning should succeed:

image

Central Administration should now open in your default browser:

image

Verify that the version number matches December 2011 Cumulative Update. You can check the version number from System Settings > Manage Servers in this farm:

image

14.0.6114.5000 equals December 2011 CU.

All done, enjoy SharePoint Server 2010 with SQL Server 2012 (RC0) on Windows 8 Consumer Preview!

SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 released

SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 is now available for download. A separate package for SharePoint Foundation 2010 SP1 is also available. You can find SharePoint Designer 2010 SP1 here and Office 2010 SP1 here.

For a complete list of changes for SharePoint, download this Excel workbook from Microsoft.

Notable changes in SP1

For SharePoint, there are a lot of notable changes. Some of these were described in greater detail earlier – from the Knowledge Base article:

  • Improved support for Internet Explorer 9.
  • Recycle bin: Lets you restore a site collection or a web that was deleted.
  • Remote Backup Systems (RBS) and shallow copy can decrease downtime and increase efficiency by moving pointers to databases instead of moving databases.
  • You can see which folders are taking up valuable space with the improved Storage Management feature in site settings.
  • Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2011.
  • A more robust Search Host Distribution service that improves error recovery and performance during the search crawl.
  • Adds backup and restore functionality to recover deleted site collections and webs.

Besides these, the following changes are worth noting:

Before SP1, the Title field on attachments was a required field. Therefore, users had to supply a title to save a document. Starting with SP1, the Title field is no longer a required field

This is a welcome addition. <ADD MORE>

URLs to documents in document libraries are very long and include the Source parameter when the URL is copied (e.g., by right-clicking and selecting Copy Shortcut). In SP1, the Source parameter is not included in a copied URL, so the URL is much shorter.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this complaint: Why can’t the URLs be shorter? Well, it seems to be partially fixed!

Performance issues exist when downloading large files.

Hard to test but is a welcomed improvement nonetheless.

Installing SP1

If you need to slipstream SP1 to your existing installation SharePoint 2010 installation media, you can extract the full SP1 package with the following command:

officeserver2010sp1-kb2460045-x64-fullfile-en-us.exe /extract:C:tempSP1

image

You can now copy the resulting files to your Updates folder in SharePoint installation directory.

Initiate the install and accept the terms:

image

Not much you can do but wait:

image

Wait a bit longer:

image

image

While waiting you might encounter the infamous OWSTIMER.EXE issue:

image

No worries. Now would be a good time to refill on that coffee.

Reboot required. After reboot, run SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard:

image

Click Next to proceed.

image

Finalizing the upgrade:

image

And we’re all done! Alternatively you can run the upgrade process from the command-line with the following command:

psconfig.exe –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b

image

Note: You will get an exception during the upgrade if SharePoint is unable to authenticate your farm administrator account against a domain controller. This happens to me all the time with virtual machines.

To check the version, go to Central Admin > System Settings > Manage Servers in Farm. Your version should now be 14.0.6029.1000:

image

You can also try out StorMan.aspx now:

image

Remember to upgrade all SharePoint servers in your farm!