SharePoint Nightmare: Installing the SPS 2010 Public Beta on Windows 7
I’m writing the 12th edition of Special Edition Using Microsoft Access, rechristened Microsoft Access 2010 In Depth for Pearson Education’s QUE Books imprint. The previous editions have sold about one million English copies and many more in 20+ languages.
Update 12/3/2009: My recently updated Amazon author’s blog is here.
Access 2007 (a.k.a. Access 12) introduced SharePoint integration with the capability to export and import Access tables to and from SharePoint lists, but dropped browser-based Data Access Projects (DAP). Access 2010 (a.k.a. Access 14, there is no v13) introduces Access Web Databases, which—in combination with SharePoint Server (SPS) 2010’s new Access Database Service—enables deploying (publishing) Access projects to intranets or the Internet.
SPS 2010 and SharePoint Foundation (SPF), formerly Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0, are now available in public beta versions. SPF, which doesn’t include Access or other Office Services, is available for download here. This post chronicles the series of problems I encountered when installing the 64-bit retail version from the 14.0.4536.1000_OfficeServer_none_ship_x64_en-us_exe.exe (561.91 MB) file that I downloaded on 11/16/2009 from the bottom of page 2 of the Microsoft Office 2010 Downloads pages on Microsoft Connect. I did not download the KB976462 - Windows 2008 R2 and Windows 7 SharePoint installations update on page 1 because it was added on 11/18/2009:
This update provides a method to support the token authentication without transport security or message encryption in WCF for the .NET Framework 3.5 on Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7. This update is required for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 to function correctly on these platforms.
Note: You can download the same file from the Microsoft® Office 2010 products for Corporate Customers page on Microsoft Connect. Notice that the highlighted Pre-requisite Update needed for Server install for Windows Server 2008 R2 link, which also applies to Windows 7, was added on 11/18/2009:
Note: TechNet’s Download Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta site offers two beta versions:
- SharePoint Server 2010 (Enterprise Client Access License features)
For organizations looking to expand their business collaboration platform to enable advanced scenarios. Use the Enterprise capabilities of SharePoint to fully interoperate with external line-of-business applications, web services, and Microsoft Office client applications; make better decisions with rich data visualization, dashboards, and advanced analytics; and build robust forms and workflow-based solutions.
- SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise
For organizations looking to create customer-facing public internet sites and private extranets using the full enterprise capabilities of SharePoint. This provides full SharePoint Enterprise functionality and no other technical limits.
Development Machine Details
Microsoft often recommends that subsequent Technical Preview and Beta versions of the same product be installed on fresh operating system instances. Therefore, I decided to run Office and SharePoint 2010 Beta versions on a 64-bit Hyper-V virtual machine. The development machine I’m using to write the book update is custom-built from an Intel DQ45CB motherboard, which supports Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) for Directed I/O (Intel VT-d), with a BX80569Q9550 Intel Core 2 Quad Processor (2.83 GHz, 12 MB L2 cache) and 8 GB (4 x 2-GB) of DDR RAM.
Two 750-GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750GB, 7200rpm, Serial ATA-300 hard drives with 32MB cache run as a RAID 1 mirror set using the Intel on-board RAID controller; a third (spare) drive handles temporary/backup storage. The DQ45CB has no legacy (IDE, serial, parallel, etc.) I/O connectors, so I added SATA DVD writer and diskette drives.
I made the assumption that most readers would run Office 2010 Professional on Windows 7 Professional, so I set up Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V as the host OS and two Windows 7 Professional guest OS instances. The host OS uses the on-board 1-Gbps Intel NIC and the External Network for the guest OS’s connects with a 1-Gbps RealTek NIC in the single conventional PCI slot to an 8-port 10/100-Mbps switch.
A multihomed Windows Sever 2003 R2 domain controller handles Active Directory, DNS, DHCP and Network Address Translation (NAT) for my DSL ISP (AT&T commercial) on a private class B IP network (10.7.0.0). Client workstations and the host OS use static IP addresses on a 10.7.5.0 subnet; the guest OSes use DHCP to obtain addresses in the 10.7.5.64 to 10.7.5.127 range.
Note: After I encountered problems activating the VMs’ Windows 7 guest OS and Office 2010 beta instances online, I added a Windows Server 2008 R2 VM without Hyper-V to see if I could activate it on line. (I had to activate all guest OSes by the automated phone service, which takes about six minutes each. Office 2010 beta disables the phone activation option. For more details, see today’s Unable to Activate Office 2010 Beta or Windows 7 Guest OS, Run Windows Update or Join a Domain from Hyper-V VM post.)
SPS Installation Instructions from the Microsoft Access Team Blog
Clint Covington’s Access Services overview and install information post of 11/19/2009 to the Access Team Blog includes the following SPS installation instructions for 64-bit Vista and Windows 7 machines:
How do you get started with Access Services? It is possible to install it on a Vista 64 bit or Windows 7 machine for developer evaluation. First, you will want to download the SharePoint 2010 beta [link corrected, requires registration] and install the prereqs [per “Determine hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Server 2010)”]. Here is an article [“Setting Up the Development Environment for SharePoint Server”] that walks you through installing SharePoint 2010. Assuming you want to run reports on your machine you will need to install Reporting Services before installing SharePoint 2010 and enable session state after the SharePoint install. Here is the download for SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP Reporting Services Add-in. I strongly recommend installing RS before SharePoint. FWIW – we are doing some work post Beta 2 to make setup easier… I think that is the information you need to get started—good luck.
Over the next couple of months we will talk about the work that has gone into these four areas. Next up—Ric will introduce you to publish and we have an Access Show that talks about IT manageability.
Clint supplemented the preceding post with Install Access Services on Vista or Windows 7 x64 OS of 11/24/2009:
I expect there are a number of folks that would love take Access Services for a spin and give us feedback. It is possible to create a dev install of SharePoint 2010 Beta 2 on Vista x64 or Windows x64. This is only intended for developers to develop custom solutions and isn’t a supported live scenario
s.The document should list in step 2 to install Reporting Services and here is the download. There was a glitch publishing the RS MSI where some users were getting a 1 byte file—that has been fixed.
There are plans next year to provide a hosted service through SharePoint Online that should make the barriers to entry much lower than it is today. I will get into that in more detail later but in the mean time—please install and give us your feedback.
My Installation Experience
After my return from PDC, I followed the instructions for Windows 7 in Setting Up the Development Environment for SharePoint Server on 11/23/2009. The SharePoint 2010 Beta installation process was designed for Windows Server 2008 SP 2. Manually installing the prerequisites for a Windows 7 guest OS was a pain.
Following are comments I added to the Access Services overview and install information post.
November 23, 2009 1:57 PM:
The following step in the installation instructions needs clarification:
“5. After the installation is complete you, will be prompted to start the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard. Before starting the wizard, first install the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 KB 970315 x64. With the wizard open, do the following:
a. Install SQL Server 2008 KB 970315 x64.
b. After the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 KB 970315 x64 installation is finished, complete the wizard.”
If you're required to install the fix "Before starting the wizard," the "With the wizard open" clause appears contradictory.
It turned out that installing the fix "Before starting the wizard," without the wizard open worked satisfactorily.
November 23, 2009 3:30 PM:
The "Microsoft SQL Server 2008 KB 970315 x64 installation" requires KB970315, which requires a hot-fix that includes two files.
According to the http://sharepointserver2010.be/Blog/post/Creating-a-SharePoint-2010-staging-environment-part-4-Preparing-and-installing-SharePoint-2010.aspx page, the 381569_intl_x64_zip.exe hotfix "actually contains SQLServer2008-KB970315-x64.exe."
The installation instructions offer no guidance as to which of the two files you should execute.
The installation instructions should be more explicit as to the hacks required to get SPS 2010 installed, especially on Windows 7.
The song-and-dance to obtain and install the hotfix was excessively complex.
November 24, 2009 8:47 AM:
When the Configuration Wizard attempts to install sample data in step 8, it throws an "Unrecognized attribute 'allowInsecureTransport'" exception. There is a long thread about this issue in the SharePoint Developer forum: Error during SP2010 configure - Failed to create sample data (http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepoint2010general/thread/f239de4a-488e-47e1-8f1e-b382fd4668fa).
The upshot is that you must install the following hotfix: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=166231 per Paul Andrews' post. This hotfix is for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7.
After applying the above hotfix, the Configuration Wizard finally completed.
Paul also notes that WCF HTTP Activation and WCF non-HTTP Activation must be enabled with the script or manually in the Windows Features applet. Another post mentions that the screen captures don't show WCF non-HTTP Activation selected.
This is the update on the the Microsoft® Office 2010 products for Corporate Customers page reproduced above.
Note: Step 4 of Setting Up the Development Environment for SharePoint Server’s Step 3: Install SharePoint 2010 states:
If any errors occur in the installation, review the log file. To find the log file, open a Command Prompt window, and type the following commands. The log file will be displayed at the end of the directory listing.
cd %temp%
dir /od *.log
There were no *.log files that I could find in the specified folder; only a collection of *.tmp files. Clicking the link on the Configuration Wizard’s last dialog correctly displayed the log file(s).
Conclusion: There are so many inconsistencies and outright errors in the SharePoint 2010 beta setup instructions that many potential testers will abandon their attempt to test Access’s new Web Database Features.
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