There are many posts about installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 on a Windows 7 PC but this is my own personal experience and shows how I had to overcome quite a few hurdles before getting SharePoint installed and running on my own copy of Windows 7.
First up, this installation is for testing purposes only. So keep in mind that this is just a standalone environment for developing SharePoint solutions and is not meant to be a full scale production platform.
This installation requires that you use a 64 bit operating system – either Windows 7 or Windows Vista.
I do not want to regurgitate the many blog posts and sites that breeze through the installation of SharePoint Foundation 2010 on Windows 7 or Vista. In fact I found the Microsoft article on installing SharePoint perfectly suitable as long as you know your DOS commands. Check it out for yourself – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869%28office.14%29.aspx.
The Prerequisites
However, before you can even start to install SharePoint Foundation 2010 you must download and install a number of so called prerequisites. You cannot use the built in prerequisite tool because the default installation works only for Windows Server 2008. This means you have no choice but to install the prerequisites manually.
If you are using Windows Vista Service Pack 1 or Windows Vista Service Pack 2, you must install the following prerequisites:
1. .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
2. Windows PowerShell 2.0
3. Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable
If you are using Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows Vista Service Pack 2, or Windows 7, install the following additional prerequisites:
1. Microsoft FilterPack 2.0. This can be installed by opening a command prompt and typing the following: c:\SharePointFiles\PrerequisiteInstallerFiles\FilterPack\FilterPack.msi.
(To open a C: prompt – Click Start and type command into the search programs and files search box. Right click the Command Prompt at the top of the search result and select Run as administrator.)
2. Microsoft Sync Framework
3. SQL Server Native Client
4. Windows Identity Foundation (KB974405)
5. WCF hotfix (KB971831) for Windows 7
6. ADO.NET Data Service Update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
Required Windows Features
Next enable each of the required Windows Features. The quick way to do this is by copying and running the following command in a Command Prompt window.
start /w pkgmgr /iu:IIS-WebServerRole;IIS-WebServer;IIS-CommonHttpFeatures;^
IIS-StaticContent;IIS-DefaultDocument;IIS-DirectoryBrowsing;IIS-HttpErrors;^
IIS-ApplicationDevelopment;IIS-ASPNET;IIS-NetFxExtensibility;^
IIS-ISAPIExtensions;IIS-ISAPIFilter;IIS-HealthAndDiagnostics;^
IIS-HttpLogging;IIS-LoggingLibraries;IIS-RequestMonitor;IIS-HttpTracing;IIS-CustomLogging;IIS-ManagementScriptingTools;^
IIS-Security;IIS-BasicAuthentication;IIS-WindowsAuthentication;IIS-DigestAuthentication;^
IIS-RequestFiltering;IIS-Performance;IIS-HttpCompressionStatic;IIS-HttpCompressionDynamic;^
IIS-WebServerManagementTools;IIS-ManagementConsole;IIS-IIS6ManagementCompatibility;^
IIS-Metabase;IIS-WMICompatibility;WAS-WindowsActivationService;WAS-ProcessModel;^
WAS-NetFxEnvironment;WAS-ConfigurationAPI;WCF-HTTP-Activation;^
WCF-NonHTTP-Activation
After Running the Code
Once you’ve copied and pasted the above code make sure all prerequisites are met and no critical error is present in your computers event logs.
If you have any problems installing SharePoint Foundation 2010 from here on check that all the required Windows Features are enabled.
The command in the previous step enables all of the required features in the Internet Information Services section of the Windows Features dialog box (which you can access through the Programs section in Control Panel).
The Installation
When all the above downloads are installed download SharePoint Foundation 2010. From the Microsoft website – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=49c79a8a-4612-4e7d-a0b4-3bb429b46595
Place the SharePointFoundation.exe file into a folder on your C drive named SharePointFiles i.e. C:\SharePointFiles
Now you have to extract the SharePointFoundation.exe program files so you can access and amend a single configuration file.
To do this open a C: prompt – Click Start and type command into the search programs and files search box. Right click the Command Prompt at the top of the search result and select Run as administrator.
Here’s where some people have a problem as you are usually dumped at C:\Users\Name and you need to be at C:\. Just type CHDIR.. to move up a rung and CHDIR.. to end up at the C:\ prompt.
Now copy the entry below and paste it immediately after the C:\ prompt.
SharePointFiles\SharePointFoundation /extract:c:\SharePointFiles
This assumes SharePoint Foundation is installed and placed on your C: drive in a folder called SharePointFiles and is named SharePointFoundation.exe, otherwise you need to change paths accordingly.
Once the files are extracted go to the c:\SharePointFiles folder and you will see a list of files.
Open the Files folder and then the first Setup folder and right click on the config.xml file and select Edit. This will open the configuration file in Notepad.
Now add the following setting Id as the last entry before:
</Configuration>
<Setting Id=”AllowWindowsClientInstall” Value=”True”/>
This line of code above gets SharePoint Foundation 2010 to install on a 64 bit edition of Windows.
The entire config.xml file should look something like this:
<Configuration>
<Package Id=”sts”>
<Setting Id=”SETUPTYPE” Value=”CLEAN_INSTALL”/>
</Package>
<DATADIR Value=”%CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\Data”/>
<Logging Type=”verbose” Path=”%temp%” Template=”Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 Setup *.log”/>
<Setting Id=”UsingUIInstallMode” Value=”1″/>
<Setting Id=”SETUP_REBOOT” Value=”Never” />
<Setting Id=”AllowWindowsClientInstall” Value=”True”/>
</Configuration>
Now save and close the Notepad file.
Once you’ve completed all the above steps go back to the SharePointFiles folder and run the setup.exe program to install SharePoint Foundation 2010.
On the Choose the installation you want page, click Standalone to install everything on one developer workstation. After the installation is complete, you are prompted to start the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard.
Once the installation is complete you should see the Central Administration page.
Blank Pages and the Solution
This is the next potential problem, as I got a blank page at this point. Even after a reboot and going to Start/All Programs/Microsoft 2010 SharePoint Products and clicking on SharePoint 2010 Central Administration I still got a blank page.
After some online research I found that this problem is to do with the setup of host names and/or problems with the loopback check.
According to Microsoft there are two methods to work around this blank page issue and you should use one of the following methods – the one that’s most appropriate for your particular set up.
Method 1: Specify host names (The preferred method if NTLM authentication is desired)
To specify the host names that are mapped to the loopback address and can connect to Web sites on your computer, follow these specific steps:
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0
Right-click MSV1_0, point to New, and then click Multi-String Value. Type BackConnectionHostNames, and then press ENTER.
Right-click BackConnectionHostNames, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type the host name or the host names for the sites that are on the local computer, and then click OK.
Quit Registry Editor and then restart your PC to see if you can log in to SharePoint Central Administration.
Method 2: Disable the loopback check (less-recommended method)
The second method is to disable the loopback check by setting the DisableLoopbackCheck registry key.
To set the DisableLoopbackCheck registry key, follow these steps:
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
Right-click Lsa, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. Type DisableLoopbackCheck, and then press ENTER.
Right-click DisableLoopbackCheck, and then click Modify. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
Quit Registry Editor, and then restart your computer.
If you now get a log in page that will not accept your windows password this last step should help.
First go to User accounts and make sure you have a password set for your Administrators account. If not create one and then restart your PC.
Now run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard again and try to open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.
Password not Accepted
If you now get a log in page that will not accept your windows password this last step should help.
First go to User accounts and make sure you have a password set for your Administrators account. If not create one and then restart your PC.
Now run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard again and try to open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.
If your password is still not accepted you will need to enable Basic Authentication under the sites section of Internet Information Services (IIS). To do this open Internet Information Services (IIS) and expand the Sites section. If you do not know where to find IIS just copy Internet Information Services and paste it into the Windows Search programs and files box. Click on the resulting link.
In the left hand column of IIS click the arrow to open up Application Pools and the Sites folder. Open the Sites folder and select SharePoint Central Administration and click on Authentication under the IIS Group in the right hand panel. Next on the Authentication screen enable “Basic Authentication” by right clicking and selecting Enabled.
Now restart your PC and see if you can now log in. If not run the SharePoint 2010 Product Configuration Wizard again. And then try to open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.
By following all these steps I was finally able to get SharePoint Foundation 2010 set up as a testing server on my 64 bit Windows 7 Professional PC.
The only downside is that I now have to log in every time I start up my computer!
P.S. This whole process with pictures and an even fuller explanation is available as a Free eBook.
